REPUBLICS 

VERSUS 

WOMAN 


i/VOOLSEY 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 


REPUBLICS 

versus 

WOMAN 

Contrasting  the  treatment  accorded  to 
woman  in  Aristocracies  with  that 
meted  out  to  her  in  Democracies 

By    MRS.    WOOLSEY 


THE    GRAFTON    PRESS 

NEW    YORK 


COPYRIGHT  1903 

BY 

THE  GRAFTON  PRESS,  NEW  YORK 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  GREAT  BRITAIN 


'T'HIS   book  is   dedicated   with   feelings   of 
congratulation  to  women  who  are  sub- 
jects of  monarchies,  and  with  feelings  of  sym- 
pathy to  women  who  are  citizens  of  republics,  by 


284366 


INTRODUCTION 

SOME  little  time  ago,  while  travelling 
abroad,  I  met  a  remarkably  talented 
young  woman,  who  at  once  evinced  the 
greatest  friendship  for  me.  She  belonged  to  an 
aristocratic  and  very  rich  family  of  continental 
Europe.  I  immediately  discerned  that  my  being 
a  citizen  of  a  Republic  was  the  real  and  only 
cause  of  her  marked  interest;  and  some  pre- 
science or  other  straightway  caused  me  to  say 
as  little  as  possible  on  the  subject.  As  she  did 
the  talking  I  was  soon  able  to  find  out  that  she 
was  either  a  socialist  or  an  anarchist  of  the 
most  extreme  type. 

In  a  few  days  there  arrived  on  the  scene  a 
charming  young  gentleman  of  rank  and  dis- 
tinction, who,  in  order  to  renew  his  offer  of  mar- 
riage, constantly  sought  the  society  of  this 
young  personage.  When  she  could,  she  eluded 
him;  when  she  could  not  elude  him,  she  rejected 
him.  Naturally  I  was  deeply  interested  in  the 
romance;  and,  being  a  woman,  I  just  as  natural- 
vii 


INTRODUCTION 

ly  'decided  to  remain  and  await  the  denouement. 
My  curiosity  regarding  this  fascinating  mem- 
ber of  my  sex  was  so  great  that  I  would  have 
risked  anything,  even  the  fate  of  Lot's  wife, 
to  unravel  the  tangle  of  her  thoughts  and  ac- 
tions. 

She  and  I  soon  became  almost  inseparable 
companions;  and  in  a  short  time  grew  so  inti- 
mate that  she  confided  to  me  her  secret  hopes 
and  fears.  She  told  me  that,  while  she  was 
passionately  devoted  to  her  admirer,  she  would 
never  marry,  as  she  had  decided  to  dedicate  her 
life  to  the  betterment  of  humanity ;  that,  in  her 
estimation,  the  only  permanent  way  in  which  to 
elevate  society  was  to  destroy  aristocracies;  and 
that  it  was  with  this  object  in  view  that  she  had 
come  so  far  from  home,  as  it  was  her  only  op- 
portunity of  meeting  other  persons  who  shared 
her  opinions.  With  them  she  was  going  to 
formulate  some  plan  for  the  accomplishment  of 
their  end.  The  constant  surveillance  of  her 
parents  would,  she  said,  make  it  impossible  for 
her  to  meet  her  co-workers  in  the  future.  Her 
parents,  she  explained,  were  in  entire  ignorance 
viii 


INTRODUCTION 

of  her  political  theories ;  and,  at  home,  she  would 
iiot  have  any  opportunities  for  doing  the  work 
which  lay  nearest  to  her  heart.  As  my  devotion 
to  her  had  won  her  parents'  hearty  friendship, 
she  had  determined  to  ask  them  to  let  her  travel 
with  me.  She  had  known  from  the  first,  she  said, 
that  she  would  have  my  entire  sympathy  in  her 
laudable  efforts;  for,  being  a  citizen  of  a  re- 
public, I  should  naturally  condemn  and  detest 
the  tyranny  of  monarchies,  etc.,  etc. 

She  would  then  and  there  have  confided  her 
every  thought  to  me  and  have  made  my  blood 
run  cold,  had  I  not  prevailed  on  her  to  drop 
'the  subject  until  I  had  had  time  to  give  her  sug- 
gestions my  most  serious  and  dispassionate  con- 
sideration. 

This  mistaken  altruism  upon  the  part  of  any 
member  of  my  sex  would  have  keenly  touched 
my  heart,  but  coming  from  one  for  whom  I  felt 
such  personal  attachment,  it  aroused  my  great- 
est apprehension  as  well.  I  determined  at  once 
to  save  her  from  her  theories,  but  I  soon  dis- 
covered the  only  possible  way  to  do  so  was  to 
reach  the  associates  who  were  influencing  her. 
ix 


INTRODUCTION 

I  therefore  urged  her  to  let  me  address  her 
co-workers  at  one  of  their  meetings.  I  swore 
eternal  secrecy  as  to  their  identities,  should  I 
ever  be  admitted  to  their  sanctum,  and  I  vowed 
that  if  they  answered  to  my  satisfaction  the  ques- 
tions which  I  should  put  to  them,  I  not  only 
would  become  a  life  member  of  their  society 
(and  immediately  thereafter  induce  her  parents 
to  let  her  travel  about  Europe  with  me),  but 
would  further  use  my  Yankee  ingenuity  to  de- 
vise some  plan  for  ridding  the  earth  of  aristo- 
crats— a  plan  which  would  be  so  speedy  and 
effective  that  all  others  would  pale  into  insignifi- 
cance compared  with  it.  (My  blushes,  as  I 
said  this,  she  mistook  for  indignation. ) 

My  plan  worked  so  effectually  that  in  the 
course  of  a  week  I  was  invited  to  the  rooms  of 
one  of  her  co-theorists,  where  a  little  coterie  of 
women  had  assembled.  I  detected  at  a  glance 
that  several  of  them  were  aristocrats — that  all 
evidently  were  (just  what  I  had  expected  to 
find)  women  of  unusual  ability,  courage  and 
determination;  and  that  "I  must  make  an  un- 
suspected, merciless,  and  persistent  attack  upon 


INTRODUCTION 

that  citadel  to  make  it  surrender" ;  or,  in  other 
words,  I  noted  what  I  was  prepared  to  note — 
that  these  women  could  not  be  reached  by  small 
talk  or  frivolity;  also  that  I  must  master  them 
at  once  or  they  would  conquer  me. 

When  I  first  began  to  speak  they  evinced 
great  suspicion  of  me,  and  immediately  became 
so  vociferous  in  their  disapproval  that  I  could 
scarcely  be  heard;  but,  as  I  continued,  I  first 
gained  their  confidence,  then  their  courteous  at- 
tention, and  soon  their  good  will. 

This  young  personage  introduced  them  en 
masse  to  me  and  said :  "Friends,  Mrs.  Woolsey, 
who  will  address  us,  is  from  the  largest  Repub- 
lic of  the  world;  a  kinsman  of  hers,*  history 
relates,  was  sent  to  America  by  the  English 
government  as  an  explorer  in  1584;  her  people 
thereafter  helped  overthrow  monarchists  by 
driving  the  British  from  that  continent;  they 
were  present  at  the  birth  of  the  American  Re- 
public, assisted  at  its  christening,  and  have  ever 
since  aided  in  guarding  its  life  and  development. 

*Captain  Barlow  of  the  English  navy — see  English  or 
American  Histories. 

xi 


INTRODUCTION 

We  shall,  therefore,  hear  an  account  of  our  sex 
in  this  the  freest,  the  most  advanced,  and  the 
best  of  all  existing  forms  of  government  or  so- 
ciety, from  one  who  is  unbiased,  either  through 
heredity  or  association,  by  old  world  prejudices 
and  narrowness.  This  lady  will  speak  to  us  chiefly 
of  woman's  position  in  a  republic  in  contradis- 
tinction to  her  position  in  a  monarchy.  And  as 
democracy  is  so  close  to  our  own  ideal  of  society, 
we  can  easily  see  how  its  lofty  conception  of 
womanhood  must  be  preserved  as  it  evolves  into 
our  yet  more  liberal  belief.  For  as  we  have  all 
agreed,  the  future  of  our  sex  is  foreshadowed 
by  a  republic.  When  we  answer  certain  ques- 
tions which  will  be  put  to  us,  Mrs.  Woolsey  will 
become  a  member  of  our  prospective  society; 
and  I  am  confident  she  will  be  one  of  our  most 
efficient  workers,  and  particularly  the  one  whom 
tyrants  will  fear  most."  (Cheers.) 


THE    ADDRESS 


WOMAN'S   POLITICAL   STATUS 

THE  tone  of  the  foregoing  introduction 
increased  the  difficulties  of  my  task,  but 
I  at  once  arose  and  plunged  into  my 
subject,  saying — 

Ladies,  our  kind  friend  has  never  heard  me 
express  my  opinion  of  woman's  position  either 
in  democratic  or  aristocratic  government.  But 
the  fact  that  I  am  an  American,*  I  greatly  fear, 
has  led  both  you  and  her  to  infer  that  I,  of 
course,  favor  her  status  in  the  former.  (Sub- 
dued murmurs.) 

Nothing  could  give  me  greater  pride  or  pleas- 
ure than  to  assure  you  that  women  in  Republics 
have  greater  influence  in  the  State  and  home, 
are  better  protected,  enjoy  a  purer  fire-side,  and 
receive  greater  public  and  private  consideration, 

*When  I  use  the  word  "American"  I  mean  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States  of  North  America.  Public  and 
political,  I  use  as  synonymous  words.  American  Repub- 
lic is  the  name  people  generally  give  to  the  United 
States  Republic. 

3 


REPUBLICS  w.  WOMAN 

than  women  in  any  other  form  of  government; 
but  my  conscience  forbids  and  prompts  me  to 
tell  you  "the  plain,  unvarnished  truth."  (Con- 
tinued murmurs.) 

I  can  easily  understand  how  the  reading  of 
the  fundamental  or  basic  principles  of  any  re- 
public would  lead  you  to  believe  that  woman's 
condition  and  position  amid  such  teachings 
would  be  preferable  and  superior  in  every  re- 
spect to  her  condition  and  position  in  any  aris- 
tocracy. It  is  not  difficult  to  see  how  you  would 
expect  the  disciple  of  democratic  doctrines  to 
live  up  to  loftier  liberty,  truer  justice  and 
broader  freedom  than  all  others.  You  look  for 
them  to  be  the  most  chaste,  the  most  sober,  the 
most  unselfish  of  men.  It  is  a  beautiful  dream 
— but  it  is  only  a  dream.  Muck  as  I  regret  it 
I  must  tell  you  that  there  is  abs  lutely  no  cor- 
respondence between  their  principles  and  their 
practices,  which  are,  in  reality,  as  different  as 
light  and  darkness. 

If  you  will  impartially  examine  facts,  you 
will  find  that  every  privilege  granted  to  woman 
by  a  republic  is  also  accorded  to  her  b^  a  mon- 
4 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

archy;  and  that  there  are  many  privileges 
granted  her  by  the  latter  that  the  former  can 
never  accord.  (Hisses.)  I  defy  you  to  show 
me  a  single  right,  liberty,  or  privilege,  either 
political,  legal,  civic,  or  social,  ever  allowed 
woman  by  a  republic,  that  is  not  allowed  her  by 
a  monarchy.  (Hisses.)  But  on  my  part  I  can 
show  you  numerous  rights,  liberties,  and  privi- 
leges, political,  legal,  and  social,  enjoyed  by 
our  sex  in  an  aristocracy,  which  it  will  never 
enjoy  in  a  democracy,  even  should  such 
government  endure  until  the  end  of  time. 
(Moans.) 

Should  a  republic  grant  the  ballot  to  woman 
generally  (which,  believe  me  will  never  occur), 
even  then  no  member  of  our  sex  could  ever 
reach  its  zenith  of  power — the  Presidency;  for 
in  a  republicfJthe  Salic  Law  reigns,  as  inexor- 
able as  death.  Even  should  a  woman  possess 
the  talents  and  merits  of  a  goddess,  the  sex  pre- 
judices of  men  in  the  mass  are  so  ineradicable, 
that  they  would  never  elect  her  to  their  Chief 
Magistracy,  and  the  Salic  Law,  I  would  re- 
mind you  has  never  been  absolute  in  any  mon- 
5 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

archy,  for  even  in  France  women  as  Regents 
could  act  as  rulers. 

Republicanism  is,  in  its  entire  nature  and  con- 
struction, a  masculine  monopoly  and  must 
necessarily  confer  all  its  pinnacles,  authorities, 
powers,  honours,  glories,  favours,  distinctions, 
exclusively  upon  men.  It  is  woman's  implacable 
foe — between  it  and  her  an  irreconcilable  con- 
flict exists  and  the  two  can  have  no  other  issue 
than  a  mortal  duel.  (A  voice:  "You  deceit- 
ful little  Yankee!") 

A  monarchy  on  the  contrary  has  no  heights 
which  woman  has  not  ascended — she  is  Empress 
and  Queen — no  barriers  she  cannot  surmount,  no 
forces  hostile  to  her  which  she  cannot  conquer. 
An  aristocracy  is  nature's  realm,  nature's  arena 
for  womankind;  and  her  highest  destiny  can 
only  be  reached  therein.  It  is  connected  with 
her  past,  is  in  unison  with  her  present  and  con- 
tains the  embryo  of  her  future.  (A  voice: 
"Traitress!")  A  monarchy  agrees  with  all 
known  facts  touching  men's  relations  to  one  an- 
other, and  comprehends  the  laws  of  justice,  free- 
dom and  morality ;  and  it  is  only  in  such  institu- 
6 


REPUBLICS  w.   WOMAN 

tions  that  the  dignity,  justice,  and  freedom 
due  to  woman  can  be  granted  and  maintained, 
(Voices:  "How  dare  you  come  here!") 

"A  Republic  is  a  mere  theory,  at  constant  war 
with  nature,  never  comprehending  liberty,  and 
at  best  only  understanding  license" ;  and  in  such 
an  institution  freedom  and  justice  to  woman 
can  never  be  granted  and  maintained.  (A  voice : 
"Let  us  refuse  to  listen!" — Disturbance.) 

Here  is  a  picture  of  the  first  woman  in  the 
largest  Christian  aristocracy — Queen  Victoria, 
crowned,  and  seated  upon  Britain's  throne. 
Look  on  that  picture,  then  on  this — this  latter 
being  the  public  ideal  of  the  "First  lady"  in  the 
largest  democracy  on  earth — in  forty-one 
States  embraced  within  the  Republic  of  the 
United  States  of  North  America.  In  the  second 
picture  you  see  all  women  therein  included  in 
the  one,  at  the  feet  of  forty  million  men — 
chained  to  criminals  and  lunatics,  living  under 
that  most  dangerous,  hopeless,  exasperating  and 
oppressive  of  all  tyrannies,  "the  will  of  the 
masses."  I  think  you  will  agree  with  me  that 
the  person  who  asserts  that  these  republican 
'I 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

States,  which  class  all  women  publicly  with  their 
mental  and  moral  outcasts,  have  as  lofty  an 
ideal  of  womanhood  as  an  empire  of  400,000,- 
000  people — an  empire  which  has  a  woman  for 
its  political,  legal,  civic,  social  and  religious 
head — is  as  irrational  as  one  who  would  assert 
that  the  moon  is  as  radiant  as  the  sun.  (A 
voice :  "You  are  polite,  I  must  say !" ) 

Beyond  any  question  the  person  who  believes 
that  the  republics  of  France,  Brazil,  Mexico — 
or  any  others — grant  to  womankind  the  posi- 
tion, influence  or  esteem  granted  by  any  aris- 
tocracy of  Europe,  has  no  more  knowledge  of 
actual  conditions  than  had  Balaam's  ass  of  the 
laws  of  gravitation.  Nor  can  one  read  history 
without  perceiving  that  the  republics  of  an- 
tiquity, too,  held  woman  in  lower  public  esteem 
than  did  the  aristocracies  of  antiquity.  It  is 
always  the  classes,  never  the  masses,  who  set  up 
elevated  ideals  of  womanhood;  and  it  is  only 
where  the  influence  of  the  classes  is  paramount 
that  woman  need  look  for  the  highest  recognition. 

The  pre-eminent  statesmen  of  every  country 
have  argued  and  granted  that  genuine  republi- 
8 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

canism  pre-supposes  political  equality.  And  if 
we  examine  the  lexicographers  they  too  define  a 
citizen  as  one  who  possesses  the  rights  of  suf- 
frage (or  a  vote).  Bouvier  says,  "A  citizen  is 
a  person  who,  under  the  constitution  and  laws 
of  the  United  States  Republic,  has  a  right  to 
vote  for  public  offices."  Worcester  says,  "A 
citizen  is  an  inhabitant  of  a  Republic  who  has 
a  right  to  vote  for  public  offices."  Webster  says, 
"In  the  United  States  Republic  a  citizen  is  a 
person  who  has  the  right  of  exercising  the  elec- 
tive franchise."  Richard  Grant  White  says,  "A 
citizen  is  a  person  who  has  political  rights,  and 
the  word  can  only  be  properly  used  to  imply  the 
possession  of  such  rights."  The  very  meaning 
of  a  Republican  government  is  clear — it  is  the 
right  of  honest  and  rational  adult  members 
thereof  to  individual  choice  of  representation. 
Yet  the  national  government  of  no  Republic 
protects  woman  in  the  right  to  representation  or 
gives  her  a  voice  therein.  In  consequence  of 
this,  confiscation  of  liberties,  rights  and  privi- 
leges of  woman — politically,  legally,  civilly,  in 
trade,  and  in  all  and  everything  concerning  her, 
9 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

occurs  again,  again  and  again;  and  (as  in  such 
government  non-representation  is  equivalent  to 
ostracism)  her  interests  are  ignored,  overlooked 
and  uncared  for.  Woman,  like  the  fabled  Pro- 
metheus, lies  chained  and  helpless  while  the  vul- 
ture preys  on  her  vitals. 

In  speaking  of  woman  in  democracy  I  shall 
speak  of  her  chiefly  in  the  one  I  belong  to,  as  her 
position  therein  is,  on  the  whole,  better  than  in 
any  other.  You  know,  of  course,  that  the  vast 
North  American  democratic  Republic  is  a  collec- 
tion of  many  States.  In  the  forty-one  States 
embraced  in  these  United  States,  every  citizen 
twenty-one  years  of  age  has  a  voice  in  the  gov- 
ernment, through  individual  choice  of  repre- 
sentation; or  has  the  right  to  complete  self- 
government  through  having  votes,  or  the  right 
to  make  all  laws  under  which  he  lives — with  the 
following  exceptions.* 

*The  citizen  must  be  twenty-one  years  of  age — a 
couple  of  the  Southern  States  insist  upon  educational 
qualifications,  which  are,  however,  not  hard  to  overcome 
as  a  few  months'  instruction  suffices.  (The  intention  is 
to  bar  out  illiterate  negroes.)  But  the  difficulty  of  sex 
can  never  be  overcome.  Once  a  woman,  never  a  voter 

10 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

In  Alabama  all  citizens  have  votes  or  right  to 
self-government  except  persons  convicted  of  the 
crimes  of  treason,  idiots,  lunatics,  and  women. 

In  Arkansas  all  citizens  have  votes  or  self- 
government  except  persons  convicted  of  heinous 
crimes,  the  insane,  and  women. 

In  California  all  citizens  have  votes  or  self- 
government  except  persons  convicted  of  em- 
bezzlement of  public  money,  of  infamous  crimes, 
idiots,  lunatics  and  women. 

In  Connecticut  all  citizens,  who  can  read  Eng- 
lish have  votes  or  self-government  except  those 
convicted  of  heinous  crimes  and  women. 

In  Delaware  all  citizens  have  self-government 
or  votes  except  persons  convicted  of  infamous 
crimes,  felons,  women,  idiots  and  lunatics. 

In  Florida  all  citizens  have  self-government 
or  votes  except  lunatics,  women,  and  persons 
guilty  of  heinous  crimes. 

In  Georgia  all  citizens  have  self-government 
except  persons  convicted  of  perjury,  bribery, 
murder,  the  insane  and  women. 

In  Illinois  all  citizens  have  self-government 
except  persons  Convicted  of  bribery  in  elections, 
11 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

the  inmates  of  insane  and  criminal  institutions, 
and  women. 

In  Indiana  all  citizens  have  votes  or  self-gov- 
ernment except  persons  guilty  of  infamous 
crimes,  lunatics,  imbeciles  and  women. 

In  Iowa  all  citizens  have  votes  or  self-govern- 
ment except  the  insane,  women,  and  persons  con- 
yicted  of  heinous  offences. 

In  Kansas  all  citizens  have  complete  suffrage 
or  self-government  except  public  embezzlers, 
persons  guilty  of  treason  and  felony,  the  insane, 
and  women. 

In  Kentucky  all  citizens  possess  self-govern- 
ment or  votes  who  are  not  imprisoned  for  crime 
or  lunacy,  except  women. 

In  Maine  all  citizens  have  self-government 
except  public  paupers,  idiots,  the  insane,  and 
women. 

In  Maryland  all  citizens  have  self-government 
except  perpetrators  of  heinous  crimes,  the  in- 
sane and  women. 

In  Massachusetts  all  citizens  who  can  rea'd 
English  can  vote,  except  paupers,  persons  under 
guardianship,  criminals  and  women. 
12 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

In  Louisiana  all  citizens  have  votes  except 
felons  under  indictment,  the  insane  and  women. 

In  Michigan  all  citizens  have  self-government 
except  women,  duellists,  incarcerated  criminals, 
and  lunatics. 

In  Minnesota  all  citizens  have  self-govern- 
ment except  those  convicted  of  treason,  arson, 
those  who  are  non  compos  mentis  and  women. 

In  Mississippi  all  citizens  have  self-govern- 
ment except  women,  bigamists,  (who  have  been 
convicted),  perjurers,  and  the  inmates  of  pris- 
ons and  institutions  for  the  feeble  minded. 

In  Missouri  all  citizens  have  votes  or  self- 
government  except  criminals  the  insane,  the 
feeble-minded  and  women. 

In  Montana  all  citizens  have  votes  or  self- 
government  except  perpetrators  of  unpardon- 
able offences,  women  and  the  insane. 

In  Nebraska  all  citizens  have  self-government 
or  votes  except  those  convicted  of  treason,  arson, 
felony,  the  insane  and  women. 

In  Nevada  all  citizens  have  self-government 
or  votes  except  unpardoned  convicts,  women  and 
the  feeble-minded. 

13 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

In  New  Hampshire  all  citizens  have  votes  or 
self-government  except  public  paupers,  inmates 
of  penitentiaries  and  lunatic  asylums,  and 
women. 

In  New  Jersey  all  citizens  have  votes  or  self- 
government  except  convicts,  lunatics  and  women. 

In  New  York  all  citizens  have  votes  or  self- 
government  who  are  not  imprisoned  for  crime  or 
lunacy,  except  women. 

In  North  Carolina  all  citizens  have  votes  or 
self-government  except  convicts,  lunatics  and 
women. 

In  North  Dakota  all  citizens  have  self-govern- 
ment or  votes  except  convicts,  women,  and  luna- 
tics. 

In  Ohio  all  persons  have  votes  or  self-govern- 
ment except  the  perpetrators  of  infamous  crimes, 
women  and  idiots. 

In  Oregon  all  citizens  have  votes  or  self-gov- 
ernment except  convicts,  women,  and  the  non 
compos  mentis. 

In  Pennsylvania  all  persons  have  self-govern- 
ment or  votes  except  perjurers,  election  bribers, 
the  insane  and  women. 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

In  Rhode  Island  all  citizens  have  votes  except 
lunatics,  women  and  inmates  of  poor-houses. 

In  North  and  South  Carolina  all  citizens  have 
votes  or  self-government  except  felons,  duellists, 
murderers  and  women. 

In  Tennessee  all  citizens  have  self-government 
or  votes  except  those  convicted  of  bribery,  arson, 
murder  or  other  infamous  offences,  women  and 
idiots. 

In  Vermont  all  citizens  have  self-govern- 
ment or  votes  except  perjurers  the  feeble- 
minded and  women. 

In  Virginia  all  citizens  have  self-government 
or  votes  except  persons  convicted  of  the  crimes 
of  treason,  embezzlement,  bribery,  felony,  lar- 
ceny, murder  and  women. 

In  Washington  all  citizens  have  votes  or  self- 
government  except  women,  murderers  and  per- 
sons incarcerated  in  penal  and  lunatic  asylums. 

In  Wisconsin  all  citizens  have  self-government 
or  votes  except  the  feeble-minded,  women,  and 
persons  in  the  penitentiary. 

And,  ladies,  that  is  not  the  worst  of  it,  for 
it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  hydra — the 
[15 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

forty-million  headed  monster — which  is  placed 
over  American  women  by  their  government  as 
their  ruler,  is  not  the  creation  of  the  native- 
born  white  men  only,  but  also  of  millions  of  men 
from  the  slums,  prisons  and  fields  of  the  entire 
world — the  scum,  the  outcasts,  the  outlaws  from 
over  the  earth — negro  ex-slaves,  semi-barbari- 
ans from  Africa,  semi-savage  Indians,*  Mexican 
ex-peons,  Chinese  ex-coolies,f  Russian  ex-serfs, 
Roumanian  ex-bandits,  Turkish  ex-brigands, 
penniless  Italians,  Poles,  Hungarians,  and  peas- 
ants from  Ireland,  Germany  and  Austria.  And 
yet  it  grows  worse,  for  our  sex  is  not  even  equal, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  Republic,  with  criminals  and 
lunatics — for  in  nearly  all  the  States,  the  luna- 
tic, during  his  lucid  intervals,  has  complete  self- 
government,  can  vote  and  make  laws  for  our 
women;  and  the  criminal,  when  pardoned,  has 
complete  self-government,  can  vote  and  make 
laws  for  our  women.  No  man  is  so  low  therein  as 

*  Indians  who  give  up  their  tribal  relations  or  pay  taxes 
can  vote. 

fChinese  who  are  citizens  of  the  U.  S.  vote  in  several 
States. 

16 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

woman,  except  the  murderer  after  he  is  hanged. 
And  it  grows  worse,  for  foreigners,  aliens,  in 
many  States,  even  before  they  are  citizens  there- 
of, men  who  can  scarcely  speak  a  word  of  Eng- 
lish, men  who  can  scarcely  spell  in  their  native 
tongues,  men  who  have  no  knowledge  of  law  or 
government,  men  whose  bodies  are  filthy  almost 
to  vermin,  and  whose  minds  are  filled  with  every 
vice — if  they  declare  intentions,  have  complete 
self-government,  can  vote  and  make  laws  for 
our  women.  Women  and  dumb  beasts  are  there- 
in about  upon  a  public  equality  and  of  all  human 
things  woman  only  is  made  a  permanent  outcast. 
Is  not  this  the  very  limit  of  political  impu- 
dence? (Voices:  "Yes,  yes,  yes!")  Do  you 
not  agree  with  me  that  the  Republic  is  based 
upon  invidious  discriminations  of  sex?  (Voices: 
"We  do !  we  do !" )  And  that  according  to  all 
its  own  axioms,  to  all  its  own  precepts,  to  all  the 
standards  which  it  itself  has  established,  its 
women  represent  thirty-five  million  serfs?* 
(Voices:  "Yes,  yes,  yes!")  Search  the  histories 

*By  40,000,000  men  I  mean  adults  and  boys — by  35,- 
000,000  women  I  mean  adults  and  girls, 

17 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

ol  every  barbarous  tribe  and  you  will  find  no 
sentiment  regarding  women  touching  lower 
depths.  Do  you  not  agree  with  me  that  such 
principles  would  disgrace  the  savage  that 
crouches  and  crawls  in  the  jungles  of  Africa? 
(Voices:  "We  do!  We  do!  We  do!")  And 
if,  in  the  possession  of  a  cannibal  king,  you 
found  such  laws,  written  in  blood,  would  there 
not  be  perfect  harmony  between  them  and  their 
surroundings?  (Voices:  "Yes!  yes!  yes!") 
How  long,  do  you  think,  it  will  take  men  who  in- 
culcate such  ideas  to  drift  down  into  the  mid- 
night of  barbarism?  (Voices:  "Not  long!") 
You  will  surely  never  again  expect  a  member  of 
your  sex  to  be  loyal  to  a  government  which  thus 
humiliates  woman!  (Voices:  "Never!")  For 
such  institutions  I  have  no  words  to  express  my 
loathing,  my  contempt,  my  abhorrence!  (Pro- 
longed cheers.) 

I  can  see  the  blushes  of  burning  shame  mount 
on  your  cheeks  at  the  knowledge  that  men  in 
whom  you  have  expressed  such  confidence  should 
heap  indignities  and  outrages  like  these  upon 
your  sex.  To  imagine  that  a  government  which 
18 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

teaches  such  doctrines  has  advanced  or  can  ad-^ 
vance  woman  is  an  absurdity  so  apparent  that 
I  am  surprised  that  anybody  should  ever  give 
credence  to  it.  Such  doctrines  could  not  by  any 
possibility  be  the  civilisers  of  womankind.  On 
the  contrary,  they  have  necessarily  polluted  the 
imagination  of  men,  robbed  our  sex  of  the  high- 
est esteem,  and  covered  the  cradle  of  every  girl 
with  disfavour.  Nowhere  is  masculine  self- 
preference,  self -idolatry,  so  constantly  nurtured 
as  in  a  republic.  Think  of  the  harmful  influence 
it  has  upon  every  boy  to  grow  to  manhood  in 
absolute  certainty  that  without  any  merit  or 
effort  of  his  own,  the  government  makes  him 
the  absolute  ruler,  during  his  entire  adult  life, 
of  every  woman  in  the  land!  Of  his  privilege 
he  is  sure,  and  that  although  he  be  the  most 
grossly  ignorant  and  the  vilest  of  the  vile;  for 
his  standing  is  secure  just  because  of  the  acci- 
dent of  being  born  a  male.  No  matter  how  su- 
perior she  may  be  in  goodness,  character,  or 
education,  woman  must  perforce  be  placed  in  a 
lower  class! 

Then  think  of  the  effect  of  such  teachings  on 
19 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

low  negroes,  whose  minds  are  filled  with  outrage 
and  murder!  Think  how  debased  and  ignorant 
foreigners  are  affected  by  the  rampant  spirit! 
The  effects  of  these  teachings  I  shall  show  you 
later  on.  But  I  feel  sure  that  you  recognize  the 
complete  lack  of  agreement  between  pretensions 
and  actual  facts;  and  that  the  imagined  rights 
of  our  sex  in  republics  vanish  when  impartially 
examined  in  the  light  of  history. 

The  pre-eminent  American,  Wendell  Phillips, 
known  to  the  world  as  one  of  the  staunchest  ad- 
vocates of  democracy  who  ever  lived,  confessed 
the  following  to  a  gentleman  in  his  latter  days. 
"Strange  as  it  may  sound  I  fear  our  republic 
will  never  be  made  to  understand  that  the  rights 
of  men  and  women  must  rise  or  fall  together — 
derived  as  they  are  from  the  same  authority, 
involved  in  the  same  axioms,  demonstrated  by 
the  same  arguments — that  the  laws  of  equal 
freedom  apply  alike  to  both  sexes,  and  any  other 
hypothesis  will  involve  it  in  extricable  diffi- 
culties. Nothing  so  discourages  me  as  the  re- 
alization that  a  republic  constantly  fosters  and 
nurtures  sex-prejudice — the  prejudice  of  men  in 
20 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

favor  of  men  against  woman,  a  prejudice  coin- 
pared  with  which  that  of  race  or  class  is  of 
trifling  importance." 

"It  is  inexplicable  to  me  that  the  government 
which  is  based  upon  loftier  liberty,  justice, 
equality  than  any  other,  should,  by  special  en- 
actment, empower  men  to  intrench  upon  the 
rights,  liberties  and  privileges  of  women  to  an 
extent  unsanctioned  by  other  forms  of  govern- 
ment. When  our  national  government  inserted 
the  word  "male"  into  its  Constitution,  it  evinced 
a  greater  preference  and  partiality  for  all  the 
men  over  the  women  of  the  nation  than  any  gov- 
ernment ever  before  showed  for  its  men  over 
all  its  women;  it  thus  notified  the  States  that 
they  could  take  away  and  confiscate  any  of  the 
privileges  which  they  grant  to  women  (and  this 
they  constantly  do)  and  that  women  had  no 
higher  tribunal  to  appeal  to  than  the  judgment 
of  the  separate  localities  wherein  they  reside. 
It  told  the  several  States  that  any  legal  or  poli- 
tical or  civil  privilege  which  they  grant  to  wom- 
an is  a  mere  local  privilege  (not  a  right)  which 
they  at  any  time  can  take  away;  from  her,  and 


REPUBLICS  w,  WOMAN 

that  the  general  government  will  never  intervene 
in  her  behalf,  because  it  has  placed  women  out- 
fcide  its  Constitution  and  beyond  its  jurisdiction. 
ttThe  National  government*  protects  the  rights 

f  ""Wherever  American  women  use  the  ballot,  it  is  as  a 
privilege  and  not  as  a  right,  as  its  use  is  not  protected 
by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Men  can 
take  that  privilege  away  from  women  on  account  of 
their  sex,  whenever  so  inclined.  The  right  of  male 
citizens  to  vote  is,  on  the  other  hand,  protected  by  the 
constitution,  and  no  State  can  take  that  right  away. 
The  States  can  affix,  qualifications  (qualifications  mean 
requirements  which  a  little  time  or  effort  can  over- 
come). But  the  right  to  vote  cannot  be  permanently 
taken  away.  The  State  may  regulate,  but  not  prohibit, 
the  right  of  a  male  to  vote.  Had  Congress  intended  to 
secure  to  the  women  of  the  nation  equal  rights  and 
protection  with  the  men,  the  word  "male"  would  never 
have  been  inserted  in  the  National  Constitution." — From 
a  speech  by  the  Hon.  J.  L.  Routt,  three  times  Governor 
of  Colorado. 

"Sex  cannot  be  a  qualification — any  standard  that 
could  be  required  by  any  State,  either  physical,  mental, 
financial  or  educational,  as  a  qualification  for  the  exer- 
cise of  the  right  of  suffrage,  can  be  met  by  a  very 
great  number  of  women  (to  the  exclusion  of  many  men), 
but  to  make  of  sex  (an  unsurmountable  thing)  a  re- 
quirement for  the  use  of  the  ballot,  is  a  piece  of  arro- 
gant despotism  that  no  monarch  ever  arrogated  to  him- 
self."—Mrs.  L.  D.  Blake. 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

of  every  male  citizen  beneath  its  flag  and  it 
leaves  all  the  women  absolutely  without  its  pro- 
tection or  recognition  and  at  the  mercy  of  the 
States.  Thus  our  Republic,  after  due  and  ma- 
ture deliberation,  purposely  robbed  its  women 
of  every  right,  and  left  them  merely  the  pos- 
sessors of  precarious  privileges  which  they  must 
gain  and  retain  as  favors  (and  not  as  rights), 
just  as  women  in  any  despotism  gain  and  retain 
favors  and  privileges." 

"The  very  basic  principle  of  our  Republic — 
the  very  foundation  upon  which  it  stands — is  the 
right  to  individual  representation.  Yet  when 
a  woman  asks  the  government  to  live  up  to  its 
principles,  she  is  insultingly  told  that  when  all 
women  ask  for  the  ballot  it  will  be  granted.  We 
have  a  law  that  murder  shall  be  punished.  Now 
suppose  when  a  woman  is  murdered  the  court 
should  announce  that  the  murderer  would  be  re- 
leased untried;  and  when  the  murdered  woman's 
mother  should  appear  to  plead  for  justice  and  to 
demand  the  enforcement  of  the  law,  the  court 
should  say:  "Yes,  madam,  the  law  says  that  a 
murderer  shall  be  punished,  but  as  all  the  women 


REPUBLICS  w.  WOMAN 

in  our  jurisdiction  have  not  individually  de- 
manded that  the  law  be  enforced,  we  cannot  ex- 
tend its  benefits  and  protection  in  your  case,  and 
we  cannot  punish  this  murderer  until  every  mem- 
ber of  your  sex  comes  to  court  to  make  that  de- 
mand." No  intelligent  man  denies  that  the 
American  "woman  has  no  rights  which  men  are 
bound  to  respect"  and  that  "she  is  a  woman 
without  a  country."  American  men  generally 
assert  that  no  race,  class,  or  nation  can  be  trusted 
to  legislate  fairly  and  intelligently  for  another 
race,  class  or  nation — that  even  fathers,  sons, 
brothers,  can  never  legislate  fairly  and  intelli- 
gently for  their  own  fathers,  sons  and  brothers ; 
and  yet  they  presume  to  legislate  for  another 
sex,  for  a  creature  of  a  different  creation;  for 
a  creature  whose  character  and  characteristics 
are  as  different  from  those  of  man  as  if  she  were 
of  a  different  world!  The  world's  great  ad- 
vocates of  democracy  have  all  started  out  by  be- 
lieving that  therein  woman  would  be  given  great- 
er opportunities  in  every  respect  than  is  given 
her  in  other  forms  of  government.  But  the  very 
reverse  of  this  has  happened  upon  practical  ex- 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

periment,  for  instead  of  woman  even  retaining 
the  public  power  and  recognition  which  she  has 
in  Christian  monarchies,  she  is  gradually  sink- 
ing in  all  such  respects  in  every  republic,  to  Ori- 
ental obscurity  and  insignificance — and  besides 
she  has  practically  lost  thereby  about  all  the 
civic  and  many  of  the  strictly  social  opportuni- 
ties which  her  sex  possesses  in  aristocracies.  It 
breaks  my  heart  to  confess  this  even  to  myself. 
Let  intelligent  womanhood  ever  discover  these 
facts  and  the  death  knell  of  democracy  will 
reverberate  throughout  the  world." 

When  the  fifteenth  amendment  was  added  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  Republic,  giving  millions 
of  male  African  ex-slaves  the  ballot,  J.  S.  Mill 
said:  "It  is  not  to  be  believed  that  a  nation 
which  admits  negroes  to  the  plenitude  of  all 
political  power,  will  still  retain  woman  in  a 
state  of  helotage,  which  is  more  degrading  to 
her  than  ever,  because  being  no  longer  shared 
"by  any  of  the  male  sex  it  constitutes  every  wom- 
an in  the  land  the  inferior  of  every  man."  After 
placing  the  female  sex  under  the  heels  of  crimi- 
nals, peasants  and  incapables  from  every  part 
25 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

of  the  globe,  the  government  added  farther  in- 
sult to  injury  by  placing  it  under  the  dominion 
of  the  lowest  race  and  order  of  manhood — the 
African ! 

You  cannot  inquire  into  the  history  of  the 
Republic  without  agreeing  with  me  that  there 
were  never  greater  acts  of  tyranny,  vanity,  sel- 
fishness or  arrogance,  than  were  committed  by 
the  male  founders  thereof,  when  they  enacted 
provisions  securing  to  themselves  all  self-govern- 
ing rights,  protections  and  recognitions,  and 
left  the  entire  female  population  practically 
without  any  national  rights,  recognitions  or  pro- 
tections whatsoever.  The  explanations  that  are 
offered  in  extenuation  thereof  are  identical  with, 
and  differ  in  no  single  particular  from  those  of- 
fered by  the  worst  despots  of  history  for  their 
unjust  assumptions  of  power.  Nor  can  there  be 
found,  either  in  Pagan  or  Christian  annals,  the 
records  of  acts  of  infamy  equal  to  those  of  their 
successors,  ostracising  their  own  countrywomen, 
outlawing  them  with  savages  and  subjecting 
them  to  the  government  of  outside  barbarians. 
"Not  since  God  called  light  out  of  darkness, 
26 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

have  men  been  guilty  of  such  baseness  toward  the 
women  of  their  race." 

You  will  find  in  the  national  policies  of  all 
republics,  that  man  is  the  Alpha  and  Omega; 
that  the  laws  of  all  are  wholly  masculine — all 
things,  legal,  civic,  and  political  being  restricted 
to  the  thoughts,  feelings,  and  desires  of  men; 
that  in  dealing  with  womankind  they  are  the 
coldest,  hardest,  and  the  most  cynical  govern- 
ments in  Christendom;  and  that  they  always 
apply  to  our  sex  all  their  political  sophistry, 
false  assumptions,  and  blind  selfishness. 

A  republic  indeed  was  the  first  government 
to  establish  an  aristocracy  of  sex,  for  as  Mill 
says,  "We  must  consider  a  government  aristo- 
cratic, be  the  class  it  excludes  from  representa- 
tion great  or  small."  An  oligarchy  of  class, 
where  the  refined  govern  the  uncouth;  of  learn- 
ing, where  the  educated  govern  the  ignorant ;  of 
race  where  the  Saxon  rules  inferior  people,  is 
natural  and  can  be  endured ;  but  an  oligarchy  of 
sex  is  the  most  odious  aristocracy  under  the  sun. 
For  the  political  disabilities  of  sex  are  far  more 
grievous  than  those  of  class  (a  citizen  in  a  re- 
27 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

public  permanently  disfranchised  or  refused  en- 
franchisement is  always  a  citizen  attainted)  ;  and 
an  oligarchy  or  aristocracy  of  sex  is  infinitely 
more  absolute  than  any  recorded  in  the  annals 
of  history.  You  have  always  heard  that  the 
Brahmin  caste  system  was  the  most  terrible 
chain  ever  laid  upon  humanity — investigate  the 
sex-caste  of  democracy,  and  you  will  concede 
that  it  is  a  chain  which  weighs  upon  women  with 
more  crushing  power  than  that  which  weighs 
upon  the  Brahmin. 

The  universal  and  exclusive  manhood  suffrage 
of  republics  has  established  an  aristocracy  of  sex 
and  thereby  unquestionably  imposes  more  cruel 
despotism  upon  woman  than  is  attempted  by  any 
Occidental  monarchy  upon  any  class  of  its  sub- 
jects. For  every  aristocracy  proper  is  based 
upon  birth,  refinement,  wealth,  charity,  ability, 
education,  character,  brave  deeds,  nobility,  or 
acts  of  chivalry,  but  in  a  republic  it  is  based 
upon  sex  alone,  exalting  brute  force  above  moral 
power,  vice  above  virtue,  ignorance  above  intelli- 
gence, and  coarseness  above  refinement. 

In  monarchies  a  woman  can  be  political  head, 
28 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

can  hold  office ;  in  all  of  them  certain  of  our  sex 
have  hereditary  rights  which  raise  them  above 
the  masses  of  men ;  certain  privileges  not  grant- 
ed to  peasant  males;  certain  honours,  ranging 
from  an  occupancy  of  the  throne  to  the  smallest 
(dignities,  which  place  them  above  the  majority 
of  men.  Millions  throughout  monarchies  have 
municipal  suffrage,  and  in  several  parts  of  the 
British  Empire  have  complete  suffrage.  There 
are  no  women  in  Europe  (except  in  France, 
which  is  also  a  republic)  so  degraded  politically 
as  the  women  of  the  American  Republics.  "In- 
cleed,"  says  Carlyle,  " — the  disfranchisement  of 
woman — as  woman — is  a  democratic  novelty." 

In  monarchies  a  woman  has  direct  political 
power — the  dividing  lines  are  not  sex,  but  rank. 
A  peasant  woman  has  no  political  power  nor  has 
her  husband.  Rank  gives  it  to  man  and  in  a 
degree  to  woman,  but  "a  republic  is  a  pure  sex- 
ocracy."  Politically  speaking  all  the  men  in 
democracies  are  patricians  and  all  the  women 
are  plebeians.  For  as  De  Tocqueville  says: 
"Wherever  one  class  has  exclusive  or  peculiar 
powers,  there  is  an  aristocracy,  or  an  oligarchy." 
29 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

It  is  too  late  by  thirty  centuries  for  republics 
to  put  in  their  brazen  plea  of  woman's  incompe- 
tency  in  political  affairs.  The  jealous  Jewish 
theocracy  was  judged  by  Deborah,  who  led 
armies  to  victory,  and  under  whose  guidance  the 
land  had  peace  for  forty  years.  There  was  the 
mighty  Semiramis,  who  founded  Babylon,  and 
whose  wisdom  was  the  bed-rock  of  the  State. 
She  led  armies  in  person,  and  her  talents  were 
so  great,  both  in  peace  and  war,  that  after  her 
death  her  people  reckoned  her  among  the  gods. 
Then  the  famous  Zenobia,  that  Empress  feared 
and  hated  by  the  Roman  Empire,  to  whose  sway 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  Eastern  Provinces  sub- 
mitted. Then  Isabella  of  Castile.  What  Span- 
ish ruler,  or  indeeed  any  other  of  her  day,  equalled 
her  in  intelligence,  was  so  great  a  protector  of 
science,  art  and  literature?  It  was  owing  to 
her  personality  that  Spain  was  productive  of 
the  most  important  consequences  to  the  whole 
world.  Then  Elizabeth,  who  picked  up  a  pros- 
trate nation  and  made  England  the  sovereign 
power  of  the  world !  What  Tudor  was  her  equal 
indeed  what  English  King  ever  equalled 
30 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

her?  What  Russian  ruler  in  personal  force  or 
energy  excelled  the  Great  Catherine  of  that  land? 
It  was  she  who  first  codified  Russian  laws,  and 
throughout  the  land  stand  great  monuments  to 
her  far-reaching  intelligence,  in  the  shape  of 
public  improvements  which  first  gave  Russia  its 
impulse  to  encroach  upon  the  four  quarters  of 
the  globe.  What  Austrian  Sovereign  had  the 
executive  ability  and  unusual  discernment  of 
Maria  Theresa?  Though  opposed  by  all  the 
powers  of  Europe  and  possessing  but  one  ally 
among  them,  she  maintained  the  greatness  and 
integrity  of  her  Empire  and  was  eminent  in 
peace  as  she  was  in  war.  Which  of  the  House 
of  Brunswick  for  one  moment  compares  with 
Victoria  ?  In  fact  what  ruler  that  ever  lived  has 
so  greatly  elevated  and  ennobled  the  entire  world 
as  she?  How  much  of  the  glory  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  enhaloes  her  throne?  Under  her 
rule  England  has  gained  such  a  foothold  that 
"the  sun  never  sets  upon  her  possessions."  And 
had  a  Victoria  been  upon  England's  throne  in 
1776,  the  entire  North  American  continent 
would  to-day  be  a  part  of  the  British  Empire. 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

We  all  know  that  the  Nineteenth  Century  was 
ushered  in  with  a  craze  fer  republicanism;  and 
that  this  feeling  increased  in  force  and  momen- 
tum until  the  revolutions  of  1848,  when  thrones 
trembled  and  fell,  and  universal  democracy 
threatened  to  sweep  the  world.  We  find  the 
twentieth  century  coming  in  with  a  general  love 
among  superior  people  everywhere  for  mon- 
archies, and  this  change  is  due  more  to  a  woman 
— to  Victoria — than  to  all  other  causes  com- 
bined. It  makes  me  shudder  to  think  how  far 
behind,  not  only  the  female  sex,  but  the  entire 
Christian  world  would  be  now  if  Great  Britain 
had  been  prejudiced  enough  to  have  excluded  a 
woman  from  her  throne.  And  if  Her  Majesty's 
female  subjects  knew  the  dangers  lurking  for 
them  in  so-called  liberal  institutions,  they  would 
never  cease  their  efforts  until  she  is  crowned 
Victoria  I,  Empress  of  a  United  British  Empire, 
for  in  no  other  possible  way  could  they  so  abso- 
lutely insure  to  themselves  and  their  female  de- 
scendants rights,  opportunities,  recognitions, 
distinctions,  as  by  the  augmenting  of  their  royal 
head  over  an  Imperial  Federation. 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

Compared  with  male  the  number  of  female 
rulers  has  been  very  limited,  but  their  percentage 
of  pre-eminence  has  been  vastly  greater.  I 
could  continue  much  longer  and  tell  you  of 
Queen-Regents  and  others  ruling  in  their  own 
right,  of  Joan  of  Arc,  the  only  human  creature 
who  at  17  years  of  age  ever  commanded  the 
entire  military  forces  of  a  nation,  and  of  many; 
others  if  necessary. 

In  the  face  of  evidence  like  this,  think  of  re- 
publics, those  governments  which  are  run  exclu- 
sively by  men,  and  which  are,  were,  and  ever  will 
be  failures,  having  the  temerity  to  assert  that 
women  are  unfit  for  political  power  or  even 
recognition!  "It  is  enough  to  enrage  the  very 
gods!" 

How  proud  we  should  be  that  republics  cannot 
defraud  us  of  the  right  to  claim  that  rulers  of 
our  sex  have  a  bigger  account  to  their  credit 
than  those  of  the  other  sex ! 

Four     of     the     proudest     thrones     on     the 

globe    are    to-day    honoured    by    being    filled 

by    women    and    considerably    more    than    half 

of  the  human  race  is  ruled  over  by  them.    Queen 

33 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

Victoria  rules  400,000,000  souls;  the  Empress 
of  China  over  400,000,000;  Queen  Wilhelraina 
over  30,000,000,  and  the  Queen  Regent  of  Spain 
over  £0,000,000.  Our  sex,  with  crowns  on  their 
brows,  may  enter  Parliaments;  may  govern  em- 
pires. In  every  state  or  class  which  is  upon  an 
aristocratic  basis  they  are  indulged  to  the  full- 
est. As  we  know,  many  women  have  political 
power  and  rank  conferred  on  them  in  monarchies, 
and  when  that  happens,  their  rank  and  power  are 
equal  to  those  of  men.  But  in  republics  no  wom- 
an is  deemed  worthy  of  publicity,  honour  or  re- 
nown— all  are  rebuffed  or  disowned.  Democ- 
racy has  had  to  follow  the  army  of  progress  led 
by  aristocracy,  but  it  has  done  so  far  in  the 
rear,  protesting,  denouncing,  ridiculing  and 
execrating.  Had  a  republic  been  the  first  and 
only  form  of  government,  woman's  position 
would  have  remained  for  ever  the  same  as  that 
she  occupied  in  the  Dark  Ages,  for  a  republic  is 
incapable  of  any  feeling  for  her  except  that  of 
prejudice,  and  ever  glories  in  seeing  her  pros- 
trate, "covered  with  the  dust  of  obedience." 
It  is  an  axiom  of  the  philosophers  that  the  po- 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

sition  assigned  to  woman  by  a  nation  is  a  true 
index  of  its  civilization.  Then  where  do  repub- 
lics register  upon  civilization's  thermometer? 
(A  voice:  "Below  zero!" — Laughter  and  ap- 
plause.) 

WOMAN'S  LEGAL  STATUS 

Every  effort  to  introduce  more  advanced  legis- 
lation for  our  sex  has  been  bitterly  opposed  by 
republics.  They  have  occasionally  been  persuad- 
ed to  amend  and  patch  some  grotesque  law,  but 
they  have  done  so  in  a  spirit  of  vindictiveness 
that  almost  drove  to  madness  the  proud  women 
who  have  had  to  appeal  to  them. 

Let  us  contrast  this  with  aristocracies  where 
many  legal  and  political  privileges  have  been 
granted  to  our  sex  by  those  in  power  (and  gen- 
erally without  women  asking  them),  simply  as  a 
matter  of  right  and  in  accordance  with  the  ad- 
vance of  civilization.  Let  us  take  Russia  for 
example.  (Hisses  and  moans.)  Russia,  God 
bless  her,  was  the  first  government  in  Christian 
Europe  to  grant  wives  the  right  to  individually 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

hold  and  control  property,  the  first  government 
to  grant  to  large  numbers  of  women  any  politi- 
cal recognition.  Throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  that  vast  empire,  wives  are  mistresses 
of  their  own  fortunes  and  all  woman-household- 
ers can  vote  either  direct  or  by  proxy  in  munici- 
pal matters.  These  are  privileges  they  have  had 
for  centuries,  and  were  enjoyed  by  them  at  a 
time  when  every  wife  in  every  republic  was  sim- 
ply a  legal  and  political  serf.  There  are  no  other 
women  who  are  so  free  socially*  as  those  in  the 
land  of  the  Great  White  Czar;  and  the  Russian 
government  is  doing  more,  as  a  government,  to 
advance  the  interests  of  our  sex  than  the  com- 
bined republics  of  the  world.  (Voices:  "Are 
these  facts?  Can  they  be  proved?")  Yes,  for 

*Young  girls  in  America  formerly  went  about  un- 
chaperoned  and  that  was  the  only  ground  for  the  com- 
mon impression  abroad  that  American  women  were 
freer  than  others  of  their  sex;  but  to-day  no  young 
women  are  more  rigidly  chaperoned  than  those  in  Ameri- 
ca. Exclusive  of  Turkey,  no  married  women  in  Europe 
demand  and  possess  so  little  genuine  liberty  as  marriecf 
women  in  America,  where  Society's  laws  are  absolutely 
man's  laws — as  political  and  financial  dependents  cannot 
create  laws  of  any  kind  either  for  themselves  or  otherSt 

36 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

I  make  no  statements  which  you  cannot  verify. 
My  love  for  our  young  friend  here  and  my  al- 
legiance to  every  member  of  my  sex  impels  me  to 
tell  you  "the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing 
but  the  truth" — and  I  do  so  in  the  full  conscious- 
ness that,  if  such  ever  becomes  known,  I  shall  be 
victimized  to  my  very  grave. 

But  there  is  France,  a  republic,  at  your  very 
door,  and  you  need  not  cross  the  sea  for  an  ex- 
ample of  democracy.  France  has  accomplished 
less  in  the  elevation  and  in  the  practical  ameliora- 
tion of  woman's  condition  than  any  other  ad- 
vanced country  in  Europe.  Woman  in  France, 
as  wife,  as  daughter,  in  her  relation  to  divorce, 
in  her  political,  legal  and  civil  life,  has  about 
the  lowest  status  in  Europe. 

Then  there  are  the  republics  of  South  America 
where  neither  legally,  politically,  nor  education- 
ally, is  woman  much  advanced  beyond  her  mediae- 
val conditions — in  fact,  her  legal  and  educa- 
tional status  generally  is  far  inferior  to  that  of 
woman  in  parts  of  the  Orient  (especially  in 
Turkey)  ;  while  her  political  standing  is  not  so 
good  as  in,  Japan. 

37 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

But  let  us  return  again  to  the  government  I 
live  in — the  American  Republic — that  govern- 
ment which  eternally  brags  and  prates  about 
liberty  and  equality  and  see  if  it  does  better 
generally  for  women  than  a  government  which 
never  brags  or  prates  about  liberty  and  equality. 
Let  us  see  the  wife's  legal  status  therein — in 
sixteen  States  a  wife  has  no  right  to  her  own 
earnings  and  the  husband  can  collect  the  same 
for  his  own  use ;  in  eight  States  she  has  no  right 
to  her  own  property;  in  several  States  she  has 
no  interest  in  the  estate  her  husband  owned  at 
their  marriage,  and  on  his  dying  she  has  no 
dower  therein.  In  no  State  of  the  Union,  if  the 
wife  dies  first,  can  she  bequeath  any  part  of  her 
property  which  she,  as  wife,  has  helped  the  hus- 
band amass,  even  to  their  children,  for  during 
the  husband's  life  she  has  only  an  interest  of  a 
pauper  or  dependent  in  such  estate.  In  several 
States  a  wife  has  no  right  to  her  own  inherited 
property,  which,  unless  placed  in  the  hands  of 
trustees  (and  away  from  her  own  management) 
becomes  absolutely  her  husband's  property  at 
their  marriage,  and  at  his  death  she  is  only  en* 
38 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

titled  to  a  fraction  thereof  as  dower.  In  thirty- 
six  States  the  wife  has  no  right  to  her  own  chil- 
dren, for  the  law  gives  the  father  legal  control 
and  guardianship  of  them.* 

Thousands  of  husbands,  when  they  die,  leave 
wills  which  are  marvels  of  injustice  and  cruelty. 
Men  have  even  willed  from  their  wives  the  very 
property  that  they  received  through  their  mar- 
riage. Even  the  guardianship  of  children  has 
been  given  to  others.  In  nearly  every  State,  the 
father  is  next  of  kin  to  the  children,  the  law 
thus  averring  that  the  father  is,  in  its  eyes,  a 
nearer  blood  relation  than  the  mother.  To  illus- 

*A  father  may,  without  the  mother's  consent,  by  his 
last  will  or  testament,  appoint  a  guardian  for  his  child, 
born  or  unborn.  This  guardian  will  have  control  or 
management  of  the  child's  property,  and,  in  case  the 
mother  dies  while  the  child  is  still  a  minor,  he  will  be 
entitled  to  the  custody  of  the  child,  and  the  mother  can 
in  no  way  prevent  his  having  it. 

If  the  father  dies  without  having  appointed  a  guar- 
dian, and  it  becomes  necessary  to  appoint  a  guardian 
of  the  person  and  estate  of  the  child,  or  children,  the 
Probate  Court  appoints  said  guardian,  but  the  Probate 
Court  is  not  bound  to  appoint  the  mother.  It  may  ap- 
point a  stranger,  and  that,  too,  without  the  consent  of 
the  mother. 

39 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

trate:  A  boy  fourteen  years  of  age  was  killed 
by  a  railway  train  some  time  ago.  His  father 
having  permanently  deserted  the  family,  the  boy 
helped  toward  the  support  of  the  family.  The 
mother,  therefore,  brought  suit  against  the  rail- 
way company  to  recover  damages  for  her  loss. 
The  case  was  decided  against  her  because,  by  the 
statute  of  the  State  in  which  the  accident  hap- 
pened, the  next  of  kin  to  the  child  is  the  father ; 
and  the  mother  was,  therefore,  entitled  to  no 
damages.  In  one  State  the  husband  may  perpe- 
trate any  wrong,  outrage  or  infamy  against  a 
wife;  but  under  no  conditions  or  circumstances 
can  she  divorce  him.  In  the  same  State  the  hus- 
band may  make  contracts  which,  for  years  at  a 
time,  will  bind  his  infant  girls  (as  soon  as  they 
are  six  years  of  age)  to  labor  as  factory  hands. 
The  children  can  be  compelled  to  work  for  twelve 
hours  a  day.  The  mother  has  absolutely  no  re- 
dress at  law.  Large  numbers  of  these  little  girls 
receive  only  from  six  to  ten  cents  a  day  for  their 
work,  and  many  of  them  work  from  six  o'clock 
at  night  until  six  o'clock  the  next  morning. 
In  five  States  husbands  can  bind  their  little 
40 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

girls  as  factory  hands  for  years  (they  usually 
only  live  four  years  after  being  thus  bound,  and 
those  who  live  longer  are  mental  and  physical 
wrecks).  The  helpless  wife  has  no  redress;  she 
cannot  interfere.  In  whole  sections  in  the  South 
in  the  country  districts  women  have  practically 
all  the  work  to  do;  and  they  support  their  chil- 
dren and  their  husbands.  In  one  of  the  oldest 
States  the  law  allows  male  brutes  to  lead  girls  of 
seven  years  of  age  to  their  ruin;  in  six  of  the 
States  at  ten  years  of  age;  and  in  four  of  the 
States  at  twelve  years  of  age.  The  helpless 
mother  has  no  right  to  change  these  laws. 

By  the  wills  of  some  of  our  millionaire  mag- 
nates, the  faithful  wife  and  mother  finds  herself 
poor  compared  with  any  of  her  own  sons,  and 
one  son  is  made  the  head  of  the  family,  with 
the  lion's  share  of  those  millions  left  to  him  to 
do  with  as  he  sees  fit.  Please  remember  that 
there  is  only  one  country  in  Europe  (England) 
where  the  law  of  primogeniture  prevails,  and 
even  in  that  country  the  eldest  son  is  simply  a 
life  tenant  of  the  real  estate.  This  is  an  entirely 
different  matter  from  a  boy  inheriting  the 
41 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

American  millions — both  personal  and  real  estate 
— to  do  with  as  he  pleases. 

In  all  the  States  a  man  is  privileged  to  enter 
any  occupation,  profession  or  trade  which  is 
supposedly  a  feminine  vocation.  The  law  does 
not  protect  women  against  such  encroachments 
by  men.  In  nearly  all  the  States,  women,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  refused  the  right  to  enter  certain 
refined,  elevating  and  suitable  occupations,  in 
which  they  might  make  honest  livings,  the  men 
being  protected  by  law  against  such  invasion. 
In  the  "free  republic"  there  are  dozens  and  doz- 
ens of  other  sustained  laws,  equally  inequitable, 
touching  woman's  relations  to  man.  Some  of 
these  laws  pass  belief.  And  yet,  an  ignoramus 
or  liar  will  tell  you  that  the  laws  in  America  are 
more  generous  to  women  than  to  men !  The  "age 
of  consent  law  alone  stands  as  a  monstrous  con- 
tradiction to  any  such  declaration  in  every  State 
in  the  Republic." 

And,  referring  to  women  in  general,  wher* 
ever  they  perform  the  same  service  as  men,  they 
usually  get  far  less  remuneration,  the  various 
local  governments  paying  them  generally,  even 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

as  teachers,  only  about  one-third  of  what  men 
receive. 

And  all  the  things  you  have  heard  about  the 
courts  being  so  much  more  tender  to  women  than 
to  men,  are  just  so  many  baseless  fabrications. 
Out  of  tens  of  thousands  of  similar  incidents,  I 
especially  recall  that  on  the  very  day  the  Re- 
public sent  to  a  Royal  Court  as  its  Minister  a 
man  who  had  murdered  his  rival  and  had  not 
even  been  indicted  for  it,  a  woman  who  had  killed 
her  rival  under  the  identical  circumstances  was 
sentenced  to  be  hanged.  The  same  court  which 
one  week  exonerated  a  brother  for  killing  his 
sister's  traducer,  the  next  week  sentenced  a  girl 
to  life  imprisonment  for  killing  her  seducer. 
The  same  court  which  awarded  a  boy  $3,500 
damages  against  a  company  for  the  loss  of  his 
left  hand,  awarded  a  poor  girl  only  $2,500  for 
the  loss  (under  the  exact  circumstances)  of  both 
her  feet.  In  the  same  city  where  a  woman  was 
sentenced  to  prison  for  five  years  for  stealing  a 
ring,  a  man  was  sentenced  to  prison  for  five  years 
for  killing  his  wife.  Besides,  in  one  city  alone, 
500  respectable  women  were  arrested  in  forty- 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

eight  hours  for  being  on  the  street  without  male 
escorts  after  9  o'clock  P.  M.,  under  circum- 
stances where  the  law  never  arrests  men — indeed, 
all  over  America  women  are  liable  to  arbitrary 
arrest  and  imprisonment  under  circumstances 
where  men  are  never  arrested  or  molested. 

Hon.  Mr.  Coudert  who,  after  Hon.  Mr. 
Choate  (United  States  Ambassador  to  Eng- 
land), is  America's  most  eminent  lawyer,  said: 
"There  are  constantly  brought  to  the  attention 
of  all  attorneys  cases  of  women  whose  interests 
have  cruelly  suffered  through  the  dealings  of 
men,  simply  because  women  are  handicapped  by 
our  unjust  laws." 

I  have  searched  the  records  of  my  country  as 
impartially  and  as  fairly  as  was  possible,  and  I 
have  found  no  single  instance  where  American 
men  (and  they  claim  to  represent  the  women) 
have  volunteered,  without  feminine  solicitation, 
to  enact  laws  which  would  give  women  general 
liberties,  rights  and  opportunities. 

Had  it  not  been  for  noble  and  intelligent 
women  no  effort  would  have  been  made,  even  to 
this  day,  to  elevate  and  ameliorate  the  position 
44 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

and  condition  of  our  sex  generally  in  the  Repub- 
lic, and  all  such  reforms  ever  made  therein  are 
due  to  the  impulses  given  by  women.  Every  chain 
or  manacle  ever  broken  was  broken  by  women; 
every  abuse  ever  destroyed  was  destroyed  by 
women;  the  labor  that  was  rewarded  was  re- 
warded by  women ;  the  defenceless  who  were  pro- 
tected were  protected  by  women;  every  justice 
which  triumphed  was  gained  by  women ;  and  they 
have  gained  for  woman  every  victory  she  has 
achieved.  And  should  they  now  lay  down  their 
arms  or  relax  their  vigilance,  every  post  they 
have  captured  for  their  sex  would  be  speedily 
assaulted  and  re-taken  by  the  enemy.  Indeed 
when  these  women  cried  "Halt!"  the  Repub- 
lic was  forcing  our  sex  to  retrace  its  steps — "was 
slowly  driving  it  back  to  barbaric  night."  The 
Republic  had  imprisoned  woman,  and  behind  its 
walls  perpetrated  against  her  every  possible 
crime,  every  conceivable  outrage.  A  few  heroic 
souls,  a  few  sublime  hearts,  realizing  that  this 
meant  for  women  mental  ruin  and  for  men  moral 
death,  broke  through  its  gates  and  bars.  When 
the  Republic  could  not  entice  them  back  into  its 
45 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

female  Bastile  with  offerings  of  toys,  trinkets 
and  sweets — saying  to  them  things  which  igno- 
rant women  construed  as  gallantries,  but  which 
the  intelligent  knew  were  insults — it  lashed  them 
with  whips  of  scorpions.  When  the  fearless  few 
said:  "You  shall  not  tell  women  they  are  an- 
gels (which  you  do  that  you  may  enslave  them 
the  more  easily)  and  treat  them  as  if  they  were 
devils !"  it  grew  livid  with  wrath  and  heaped  up- 
on them  every  malevolence  and  indignity.  The 
most  pathetic  struggle  of  the  oppressed  against 
despotism  which  has  ever  been  made  was  that 
of  these  unselfish  women.  No  martyrs  of  history 
ever  endured  the  insults,  epithets,  abuse  and  sar- 
casm, such  as  they  were  subjected  to. 

Believe  me,  republicanism,  per  sey  has  gained 
no  victories  for  woman — our  sex  is  not  indebted 
to  it  for  a  single  right,  for  a  solitary  reform. 
There  is  no  instance  to  be  found  where  it  ever 
volunteered  to  grant  women  generally  recogni- 
tion, opportunity,  friendship,  sympathy  or  help ; 
and  everything  our  sex  has  accomplished  therein 
has  been  in  spite  of  and  not  on  account  of  de- 
mocracy. You  who  have  had  such  faith  in  demo- 
46 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

cratic  institutions  can  scarcely  credit  these  facts. 
(Voices:     "Yes;  we  do  credit  them  now!") 

It  is  the  very  height  of  impudence  and  false- 
hood for  America  to  point  to  the  grand  and 
glorious  women  therein  and  say  "These  are  the 
results  of  our  institutions !"  Suppose  you  heard 
of  a  father  who  had  forced  his  daughter  to  have 
no  public  associates  except  lunatics  and  crim- 
inals ;  who  compelled  her  to  seek  her  every  pro- 
tection, liberty,  privilege  through  all  the  niggers 
and  unwashed,  unlettered  men  in  the  community ; 
who  made  her  feel  that  she  was  the  most  despised, 
outcast,  outlawed  thing  of  earth;  who  tried  to 
crush  from  her  brain  the  idea  she  had  a  right  to 
think, — pointing  to  his  daughter,  who,  in  spite 
of  all  the  injustices,  humiliations  and  wrongs  he 
had  heaped  on  her,  had  attained  a  splendid  wo- 
manhood, saying:  "She  is  the  result  of  my 
treatment  and  training!"  You  would  unhesi- 
tatingly say  that  he  was  a  fraud,  a  bluffer,  a 
liar. 

And  what  words  would  apply  to  that  boast 
of  the  Republic?     (A  voice:    "Those  same  com- 
plimentary epithets."    Prolonged  cheers.) 
47 


REPUBLICS  w.  WOMAN 

Please  remember  that  many  women  have  made 
successes  of  their  lives,  and  have  gained  distin- 
guished reputations  in  every  despotism;  and 
such  instances  in  America  can  in  no  way  be 
ascribed  either  to  friendship  or  to  voluntary  rec- 
ognition. Do  not  mistake  a  coincidence  for  a 
cause.  Republicanism,  instead  of  being  woman's 
friend,  has  always  been  her  determined  antagon- 
ist ;  it  has  uniformly  opposed  all  her  aspirations ; 
and  only  to  the  extent  that  the  belief  in  de- 
mocracy has  decreased  has  woman's  position 
position  therein  advanced. 

I  shall  now  tell  you  some  things  about  my  own 
experience,  for  you  will  thus  be  confronted  with 
a  living  reality  instead  of  some  mere  abstract 
theory ;  and  because  I  feel  that  in  no  other  way 
can  I  so  readily  convince  you  that  all  the  things 
you  have  heard  about  the  rights  and  equalities 
of  American  women  are  mockeries  and  false- 
hoods. When  I  was  yet  almost  an  infant  I  heard 
my  father  say  he  was  ashamed  to  publicly  record 
(he  was  writing  a  law-book  at  the  time)  that 
"in  this  so-called  'free  Republic'  the  wife's  legal 
status  in  this  State  is  little  better  than  that  of 
48 


REPUBLICS  w.  WOMAN 

its  former  negro  slave,  and  that  in  the  eye  of 
the  law,  the  married  white  woman  is  almost  as 
devoid  of  personality  as  the  African  ex-bond- 
man."* In  after  years  I  made  inquiry  and 
found  I  was  living  in  a  State  where  a  wife's 
earnings  legally  belonged  to  her  husband ;  where 
her  personal  property  (such  as  money,  bonds, 
consols,  stocks,  jewels)  belonged  to  her 
husband ;  where  all  the  rents  and  profits  accruing 
from  her  property  or  real  estate,  belonged,  too, 
to  her  husband;  where  the  wife  could  make  no 
will  which  the  husband  could  not  prevent 
the  probate  of ;  where  the  law  forcibly  prevented 

*At  the  solicitation  of  the  speaker's  great-grand- 
mother, her  great-uncle,  Judge  Robert  Trimble  (after- 
wards Justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court) 
drafted  the  first  bill  ever  drawn  upon  the  American 
continent  to  give  to  married  women  the  right  to  control 
their  property  and  their  children.  That  was  about  the 
year  1802.  It  was  impossible  to  get  any  member  of 
the  legislature  to  introduce  the  bill,  or  even  to  give  it 
a  reading.  A  second  and  similar  bill  was  drafted  by 
her  grandfather  (afterwards  Judge  John  Trimble,  of 
the  Kentucky  Court  of  Appeals)  about  1804.  He  also 
failed  to  induce  any  member  of  the  legislature  to  intro- 
duce his  bill,  as  the  prejudice  against  giving  such  jus- 
tice to  women  was  overwhelming. 

49 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

the  mother  from  acting  as  guardian  even  of  her 
own  children,  if  she  were  married;  where  the 
married  mother  did  not  own  her  own  children. 
Thus  you  see  that  I  knew  when  very  young, 
that  all  that  men  generally  said  about  America 
being  a  free  country  and  everybody  in  it  equal 
was  a  lie  made  out  of  whole  cloth.  Years  after- 
wards, when  I  wished  to  finish  my  studies,  I  was 
compelled  to  attend  an  inferior  University,  as 
the  nation's  greatest  educational  institutions 
were  closed  to  me  on  account  of  my  sex.  When 
I  went  through  one  of  those  magnificently-en- 
dowed seats  of  learning,  when  I  found  that 
Negroes,  Indians,  Chinamen — men  of  all  nations, 
races  and  climes — were  admitted  to  its  splendid 
halls  as  students,  and  that  entrance  thereto  was 
forbidden  to  every  member  of  my  sex,  I  became 
for  the  first  time  fully  conscious  wliat  it  meant 
to  be  a  woman;  and  that  night,  for  the  first  time, 
I  failed  to  say  my  prayers.  I — I — could — not ; 
"Amen  stuck  in  my  throat." 

As  these  universities  are  only  quasi-public  in- 
stitutions, I  shall  not  farther  expatiate  thereon, 
as  I  wish  to  deal  chiefly  with  woman's  position 
50 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

with  regard  to  laws  and  the  government.  And 
when  I  refer  to  other  things  it  is  only  in  order 
to  show  you  that  your  belief  that  American  men 
are  more  generous  to  women  or  are  better  than 
the  men  of  other  countries  is  a  case  of  mistaken 
confidence,  entirely  unwarranted  by  facts.  And 
I  could  easily  prove  to  you  that,  in  strictly 
social  matters,  they  have  less  charity  for 
women  than  have  the  men  of  other  countries 
— but  that  would  be  going  entirely  out  of  my 
province. 

When  I  was  a  very  young  girl,  a  cousin  of 
mine  who  had  charge  of  me  took  me  to  Washing- 
ton, the  National  Capital.  She  went  there  to 
ask  Congress  (the  National  Legislature)  to  add 
an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  which  would 
place  the  white  women  of  the  Nation  upon  a 
public  equality  with  its  negro  men.  The  first 
Member  of  Congress  we  met  was  a  negro  who 
had  been  formerly  a  slave  of  our  own  grand- 
father (I  have  never  forgotten  my  cousin's 
humiliation),  and,  can  you  credit  it — that  "flat- 
nosed,  nappy  headed  African"  was  opposed  to 
the  Government  granting  white  women  recogni- 
51 


REPUBLICS  w.  WOMAN 

tion  equal  to  what  it  had  given  him!  Years 
afterwards  I  went  to  the  Legislature  of  a  State 
where  I  heard  native-born,  tax-paying,  educated 
ladies  address  a  Committee  thereof  in  order  to 
gain  some  justice  for  their  sex.  Not  a  man  of 
that  Committee  was  a  native-born  American; 
but  they  were  those  who  according  to  Schopen- 
hauer, "had  left  Europe  for  Europe's  good." 
During  the  time  this  Committee  was  being  ad- 
dressed the  members  thereof  pared  their  nails, 
looked  out  the  windows,  thumped  upon  their 
chair-arms,  and  treated  these  ladies  with  the 
most  insufferable  insolence. 

At  another  State  Legislature  I  saw  an  ex-son 
of  Ireland  throw  a  petition,  addressed  to  the 
Legislature  of  which  he  was  a  member,  into  a 
wastepaper  basket.  The  petition  in  question 
had  been  signed  by  thousands  of  ladies,  a  num- 
ber of  whom  presented  it.  But  the  member  of 
Legislature  had  no  more  consideration  for  them 
than  if  they  had  been  a  flock  of  sheep  bleating 
for  his  recognition.  As  he  was  in  authority  the 
petition  was  not  allowed  to  reach  the  Legisla- 
ture for  consideration.  He  said  that  the  Legis- 
52 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

lature  was  too  busy  with  important  matters  to 
waste  its  time  with  the  affairs  of  women.  The 
Legislature,  it  may  be  remarked  en  passant, 
enacted  almost  1,000  laws,  not  twenty  per  cent, 
of  which  were  enforced,  or  were  enforcible!  If 
you  ladies  could  hear  that  fellow  talk  about 
"Ireland's  wrongs"  (as  he  does  so  constantly), 
you  would  actually  believe  him  to  be  in  sym- 
pathy with  liberty,  equality,  and  all  such  things, 
and  that  he  meant  something  more  thereby  than 
giving  Irishmen  a  chance  to  tyrannize  over 
other  people. 

At  another  time  I  addressed  a  letter  to  a 
member  of  Congress  asking  him  to  see  me  in* 
order  to  discuss  the  matter  of  his  arrangiag 
to  introduce  into  that  National  Legislature  a 
bill  on  behalf  of  my  sex.  I  stated  in  my  letter 
that,  foreigner  as  he  was  by  birth,  he  would 
assuredly  concede  that  I,  a  native  American, 
had  as  good  a  right  to  recognition  by  this  gov^ 
ernment  as  himself;  especially  so  as  my  ances- 
tors had  fought  for  and  helped  found  the  Re- 
public. Besides,  I  said,  I  had  paid  taxes  which 
were  so  heavv  that  they  were  virtually  a  con- 
53 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

fiscation  of  the  property  on  which  they  were 
levied — taxes  which  were  greater  in  amount 
than  the  entire  Colonial  Government  was  ex- 
pected to  pay  through  the  Stamp  Act  to  the 
English  Government  during  six  months ;  and  the 
levying  of  the  Stamp  Tax  caused  the  Revolu- 
tion, the  Colonies  declaring  in  flaming  indigna- 
tion and  fury  that  "taxation  without  represen- 
tation is  despotism,  slavery,  robbery."  I  fur- 
thermore told  him  that,  for  several  years,  I  had 
given  employment  to  several  hundreds  of  for- 
eign-born workmen,  who  could  not  even  read  or 
write  in  their  native  tongues,  and  that  the  gov- 
ernment made  them  my  rulers.  All  of  which,  I 
impressed  upon  him,  he  should  acknowledge  was 
an  outrage  on  me.  I  received  no  reply  to  my 
letter.  When,  later,  I  saw  the  congressman,  he 
said  he  had  more  important  matters  to  attend  to 
than  securing  rights  for  women.  When  I  re- 
monstrated at  this,  and  declared  I  would  make 
his  remarks  public  property,  he  retorted  he  did 
not  care  if  I  did,  for  women  had  no  votes  and 
could  do  him  no  harm.  He  said  he  was  more 
and  more  grateful  daily  that  he  had  become  a 
54 


REPUBLICS  w.  WOMAN 

member  of  a  government,  the  very  construction 
of  which  precluded  the  possibility  of  any 
woman  ever  occupying  therein  any  public  po- 
sition of  genuine  power  and  authority.  I  told 
him  that  my  grandmother,  and  the  grand- 
mothers of  many  thousands  of  our  women  who 
belonged  to  the  Colonial  Dames  and  the  Daugh- 
ters of  the  Revolution  and  all  such  societies,  had 
helped  found  the  Republic,  just  as  much  as  the 
men;  that  the  male  founders  had  no  right  or 
authority  from  them  to  make  them  and  their 
female  descendants  political  outcasts  and 
pariahs;  that  I  did  not  believe  that  such  had 
been  the  intention  of  the  male  founders  of  the 
Republic.  I  informed  him  that  a  cousin  of 
mine,  having  remained  loyal  to  the  mother- 
country,  had  returned  to  England,  and  that 
for  a  long  time  her  female  descendants  had  voted 
there  upon  equal  terms  with  men  upon  municipal 
questions  and  affairs;  that  those  who  went  to 
Australia  vote  upon  all  questions,  having  full 
suffrage;  that  the  female  descendants  of  her 
daughter  (who  married  a  Russian),  had  voted 
in  Russia  for  almost  a  century  upon  every  ques- 
55 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

tion  upon  which  men  vote  in  that  country.  I 
asked  what  gain  it  had  been  to  me  or  to  any 
other  woman  to  have  been  transferred  from  sub- 
jects of  the  English  monarchy  to  citizens  of  the 
American  Republic.  I  reminded  him  that  Amer- 
ican women  had  gained  the  limited  recognitions 
and  privileges  they  possess  only  after  years  of 
the  hardest,  most  disheartening,  most  cruel, 
most  humiliating  fighting  that  any  women  in 
the  world  ever  before  underwent  to  gain  privi- 
leges and  recognitions. 

He  replied  that  the  founders  of  the  Re- 
public believed,  as  did  all  their  sex  with 
the  exception  of  the  "sillies"  who  allowed  wom- 
en to  occupy  thrones,  that  the  world  belongs 
to  men;  that  they  had  purposely  prevented 
American  women  from  being  placed  in  a  position 
where  they  could  seriously  question  this  gen- 
eral masculine  belief;  that  Mrs.  Adams,*  Mrs. 

*Mrs.  Adams  was  the  wife  of  one  who  later  became 
President;  Mrs.  Lee,  a  sister  of  the  famous  General  R. 
H.  Lee;  Mrs.  Brevard,  an  eminent  Southern  woman; 
Miss  Livingston,  a  cousin  of  Phil.  Livingston,  one  of 
the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

56 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

Lee,  Mrs.  Brevard,  Miss  Brent  and  Miss  Liv- 
ingston, expressing  the  wishes  of  all  educated 
women  in  the  Colonies,  had  personally  implored 
the  men  who  organized  the  Republic,  to  grant 
women  recognition  and  equality  with  the  men. 
As  the  Revolutionary  forefathers  had  ignored 
women  in  the  face  of  appeals  like  these,  not  hav- 
ing mentioned  them  in  either  the  State  or  Na- 
tional Constitutions,  it  was,  he  declared,  clear 
proof  that  it  was  their  fixed  intention  and  pur- 
pose to  deprive  women  of  rights,  allowing  them 
only  such  privileges  as  the  men  in  separate 
localities  chose  to  grant  them.  His  opin- 
ion, he  maintained,  was  coincided  in  by  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States  (which  is 
America's  tribunal  of  final  appeal),  and  by 
American  men  in  an  overwhelming  majority, 
and  that  there  was  no  longer  room  for  any  sur- 
mise on  the  part  of  American  women  as  to  what 
the  intent  of  the  founders  of  the  Republic  had 
been.  If  you  ladies  could  hear  him  expatiate 
upon  liberty,  equality,  and  all  such  things  (as 
he  does  constantly),  you  would  actually  believe 
that  he  is  in  sympathy  with  people  who  struggle 
57 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

for  their  rights.  Personally  I  don't  believe  a 
word  uttered  by  such  men,  for  I  know  them  too 
well.  I  know  that  they  are  wolves  in  sheep's 
clothing,  and  that  they  consider  our  sex  the 
choicest  morsels  they  can  devour.  I  am  sure  that 
my  experience  alone  would  convince  any  sane 
person  that  America  is  not  a  free  country 
where  everybody  is  equal. 

It  has  doubtless  occurred  to  you  ladies  long 
before  this,  that  men  who  screech  and  yell  for 
"free  Ireland,"  or  republicanism,  or  anarchism, 
or  other  similar  "isms,"  as  long  as  they  them- 
selves are  subjects,  make  no  especial  effort  when 
they  have  power  within  their  grasp,  to  apply 
their  principles  to  women.  Nay,  more,  the  very 
things  which  such  men  avow  are  outrages,  des- 
potisms and  crimes,  they  premeditatively  practice 
upon  women  with  a  vindictiveness  and  offensive- 
ness  that  no  government  ever  called  upon  them, 
or  upon  their  female  subjects  to  endure. 

Now,  ladies,  I  beg  you  to  divest  yourselves  of 
all  prejudice,  and  tell  me  if  you  can  see  any  ad- 
vantage so  far  that  our  sex  has  in  a  democracy 
over  an  aristocracy?  I  am  confident  you  are 
58 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

conscientious  women.  Upon  your  answer  rests 
my  future  course.  If  you  answer  that  you  do 
see  that  our  sex  has  more  advantages  in  a  de- 
mocracy, I  shall  keep  the  promise  I  made  you, 
— shall  become  a  life-member  of  your  organiza- 
tion, and  shall  be  a  greater  foe  to  aristocracies 
than  any  of  you  would  ever  dare  to  become.  Do 
you  see  any  advantage  so  far  that  our  sex  has 
in  a  democracy  over  an  aristocracy?  (Cries  of 
"No,  no!  We  do  not!")  Do  you  see  any  ad- 
vantage that  our  sex  has  in  belonging  to 
the  so-called  most  liberal  government  in 
Christendom — the  American  Republic — over  be- 
longing to  the  so-called  most  autocratic — 
Russia?  (Cries  of  "No,  no!  We  do  not;  we 
do  not!") 

Thank  you  for  your  consideration  and  fair- 
ness. I  am  pleased  to  hear  you  say  that  you 
do  not — for  indeed  such  advantages  are  not  to 
be  seen.  On  the  contrary,  the  Russian  woman 
has  incalculable  advantages  over  the  woman  of 
the  Republic.  While  the  condition  and  posi- 
tion of  the  Russian  woman  constantly  grow 
brighter  and  better,  those  of  the  American  woin- 
59 


REPUBLICS  w.  WOMAN 

an  grow  darker  and  worse;  for  with  the  steady 
increase  in  the  population  of  the  Republic  there 
are  added  to  and  placed  over  the  American  worn* 
an  as  rulers,  millions  of  debased  Negroes, 
penniless  Italians,  Spaniards,  Poles  and 
Hungarians;  Russian  ex-serfs;  peasants  from 
Ireland,  Germany  and  Austria;  ex-bandits  and 
slaves  from  Turkey  and  Armenia;  Mexican  ex- 
peons  ;  and  the  vicious,  unwashed  and  unlettered 
in  all  the  States  of  the  Republic. 

"In  proportion  as  you  multiply  the  rulers  the 
condition  of  the  politically  ostracised  is  more 
hopeless  and  degraded."  I  cannot  see  how  any 
sane  creature  believes  that  the  individual 
who  wears  one  political  yoke  is  as  heavily 
burdened  as  she  who  wears  forty  million 
political  yokes;  or  that  a  one-headed  ruler 
is  more  oppressive  than  a  forty-million-headed 
ruler ! 

By  not  making  such  men  your  rulers  (through 
their  representatives)  your  governments  have 
never  forced  you  to  cringe  in  the  dust  at  the 
feet  of  niggers,  and  men  from  the  fields,  slums 
and  prisons  of  foreign  lands ;  nor  yet  at  the  feet 
60 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

of  the  inferior  and  debased  natives;  to  implore 
of  such  rights  to  your  children,  your  wages, 
your  property,  the  bodies  of  your  little  girls; 
nor  to  ask  them  to  grant  you  protection,  liber- 
ties, and  opportunities. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  American  woman 
lives  in  the  largest  and  most  overwhelming  des- 
potism on  earth.  Take  any  dictionary  pub- 
lished, hunt  the  meaning  of  the  word  "despot- 
ism," and  you  will  see  that  I  do  not  exaggerate 
in  the  slightest.  No  Chinese  woman  has  more 
than  one  absolute,  irresponsible  and  arbitrary 
ruler ;  American  women  have  forty  million  abso- 
lute, irresponsible  and  arbitrary  rulers.  The 
Chinese  woman  has  just  as  much  voice  in  her 
own  government  and  in  making  the  laws  by 
which  she  is  controlled  as  the  American  woman. 
These  American  rulers  will  tell  you  that  China  is 
the  largest  and  most  overwhelming  despotism  on 
earth,  and  that  Chinamen  are  slaves.  Let  us 
see  what  has  been  the  status  of  a  male  subject 
in  China  since  1776 — since  the  foundation  of 
the  American  Republic — and  contrast  his  politi- 
cal, legal,  civic,  educational  and  commercial 

61 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

opportunities  with  those  possessed  by  American 
women  during  that  time.  Every  Chinaman  has 
had  every  privilege  of  life,  liberty,  the  pursuit 
of  happiness,  which  the  highest  nobleman  pos- 
sessed; every  office  in  the  government,  with  one 
exception — that  of  Emperor — was  open  to  him ; 
he  was  at  liberty  to  enter  any  university  and  get 
the  best  education  in  the  realm;  no  trade,  no 
occupation,  no  profession  was  closed  to  him  by 
law;  he  legally  owned  his  children,  his  personal 
property,  the  results  of  his  labor,  the  profits  of 
his  real  estate,  and  could  make  a  will  or  legacy. 
Now  compare  all  that  with  the  political,  legal, 
educational,  civic  and  commercial  opportunities 
afforded  American  women  since  1776.  If  you 
still  say  Chinamen  have  been  slaves,  what  have 
American  women  been?  (A  voice:  "The  word 
has  not  been  coined!")  If  you  still  say  the 
Chinese  government  has  been  a  despotism  for 
its  men,  what  has  the  American  government  been 
for  its  women?  (A  voice:  "He — he — Hades!" 
— Laughter.)  On  China's  throne  there  sits 
a  woman — the  one  absolute  ruler  over  its 
more  than  two  hundred  million  men  is 
62 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

to-day   a  member   of   our   sex.      (Cheers    and 
applause. ) 

Years  ago  I  saw  republican  institutions  just  as 
they  are  and  just  as  I  am  showing  them  to  you. 
I  then  realized  that  a  republic  is  a  government 
of  males,  for  males,  and  by  males;  and  that  no 
other  intelligent  or  truthful  definition  thereof 
could  be  given.  I  then  determined  to  do  all  in 
my  power  to  preserve  and  augment  Christian 
aristocracies,  for  I  realize  that  it  was  a  ques- 
tion for  my  sex  of  self-respect  and  opportunity 
against  humiliation  and  ostracism.  I  have 
abandoned  all  attempts  to  reconcile  republics 
with  justice  for  my  sex;  such  reconciliation,  I 
know,  is  impossible.  I  realize  that  republicanism 
must  ever  try  to  prove  the  unjust  just,  the  un- 
natural natural,  the  immoral  moral,  and  my 
constant  prayer  is  that  the  monstrous  delusion 
may  die.  (A  voice:  "We  should  like  to  attend 
the  funeral — but  not  as  mourners!") 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

WOMAN'S   CIVIL   STATUS 

I  herewith  cite  to  you,  absolutely  from  mem- 
ory, things  which  I  have  gleaned  from  different 
sources  at  various  times,  for  loyalty  to  my  sex 
?has  been  my  life's  hobby,  and  I  have  always 
noted  everything  bearing  upon  woman's  condi- 
tion. And  let  me  beg  just  here,  as  I  have 
promised  the  strictest  secrecy  towards  you  that 
you  will  never  divulge  that  I  told  you  all  these 
things;  for  no  American  woman  can  publicly 
announce  such  truths  and  not  be  crucified.  In- 
stead of  attacking  the  arguments  the  individual 
who  makes  them  will  be  attacked,  and  I  am 
not  seeking  martyrdom. 

A  diplomat  has  said:  "In  the  United  States 
Republic  marriage  is  easily  made,  boys  and  girls 
entering  into  it  with  little  or  no  ceremony  and 
at  an  age  when  they  should  be  at  school.  But 
if  marriage  is  easy,  divorce  is  no  less  so,  and 
is  so  frequent  it  creates  no  comment.  When  we 
consider  that,  in  addition  to  legal  divorce,  there 
is  an  appallingly  large  number  of  separations 
64 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

and  desertions ;  and  when  we  reflect  on  the  noble 
nature  and  unselfish  devotion  of  women,  their 
maternal  instinct  and  their  dislike  of  publicity — 
we  can  safely  assume  that  an  enormous  propor- 
tion of  the  marriages  contracted  therein  result 
in  misery.  Not  only  are  the  various  easy  mar- 
riage and  divorce  laws  most  unfortunate  for 
these  women,  but  the  whole  social  organization 
bears  most  heavily  upon  them.  The  prevailing 
belief  amongst  people  in  Europe  is  that  women 
in  the  Republic  enjoy  an  enviable  lot;  whereas 
a  glance  at  the  laws  and  customs  affecting  them 
shows  how  helpless  and  unprotected  they  are. 
They  have  no  legal  claim  upon  parents  except 
in  childhood,  and  so  feel  forced  to  marry,  but 
with  the  melancholy  consciousness  that  mar- 
riage is  no  certain  or  reliable  bond.  As  a  dis- 
guised selfishness  prevents  the  father  from  giv- 
ing a  dowry,  the  husband  also  selfishly  makes  no 
settlement,  and  the  poor  dowerless  girl  enters 
married  life  with  no  assurance  of  any  provision 
for  herself  and  children,  save  that  which  depends 
solely  upon  the  good  will  of  her  husband* 
Worse  than  all,  the  ease  with  which  divorce  can 
65 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

be  obtained  renders  the  length  of  married  life 
very  uncertain.  The  different  systems  of  laws, 
the  sovereignty  of  the  States,  the  existence 
of  trust  estates,  render  any  decree  of  court 
for  allowance  or  alimony  practically  nuga- 
tory."* 

"Yet  from  a  glance  at  the  Constitution  of 
this  government  and  the  utterances  of  its  public 
men,  a  stranger  would  imagine  that  an  ideal 
condition  of  society  exists  therein  for  women. 
But  such  are  transparent  screens  which  deceive 
none  but  novices." 

Women  are  often  imprisoned,  fined,  or  pun- 
ished there  for  immorality  (the  men  never  are) ; 

*"There  are  over  20,000  divorces  granted  annually  in 
the  American  Republic.  Ten  years  of  the  most  thor- 
ough and  impartial  investigation  has  convinced  me  that 
for  every  woman  who  has  been  divorced,  at  least  100 
were  legally  entitled  to  divorces;  and  that  98  men  in 
every  100  (in  the  upper  and  middle  classes)  who  are 
entitled  to  divorce  obtain  such.  Practically  the  entire 
womanhood  of  the  lower  classes  is  lewd.  On  account 
of  children  or  financial  dependence,  wives  submit  to 
wrongs  which  husbands  would  not  countenance  for  a 
moment.  At  least  90  per  cent,  of  the  men  whose  wives 
divorce  them,  or  who  desert  their  families,  are  native- 
born." 

66 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

and  the  number  of  victims  of  men's  passions  and 
selfishness  has  multiplied  and  grown  until  in  no 
land  on  earth  are  there  vaster  armies  of  them. 
Drunkenness  and  gambling  are  also  alarming- 
ly prevalent,  the  percentage  of  gambling 
amongst  these  men  being  larger  than  in  any 
other  country ;  and  their  per  capita  use  of  alco- 
hol also  being  larger  than  that  of  any  other 
men.*  No  men  hold  more  rigidly  to  one  social 
scale  for  themselves  and  to  another  for  women, 
and  yet  any  good  which  might  be  accomplished 
by  honesty,  publicity  or  truth,  is  always  para- 
lyzed by  that  vice  of  vices — hypocrisy — which 
clings  to  the  male  Yankee  like  the  shirt  of  Nes- 
sus. 

Bellamy  has  said:  "At  the  very  bottom  of 
the  heap,  bearing  the  accumulated  burden  of  the 
whole  mass,  is  woman  in  every  republic.  So  far 
beneath  the  estate  of  man  is  woman  therein,  that 

*In  making  up  their  tables  of  the  use  of  alcoholic 
drinks,  statisticians  include  women.  But  as  women  only 
consume  one  per  cent,  thereof,  they  should  practically 
be  excluded,  and  this  (when  reduced  to  pure  alcohol) 
shows  that  American  men  consume  more  per  capita 
than  the  men  of  any  other  country. 

67 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

it  would  be  a  mighty  uplift  for  her  could  she 
attain  the  level  of  even  its  lowest  man  I" 

Richard  Henry  Savage  said:  "Women  are 
far  more  dependent  in  America  than  in  Europe. 
It  will  offend  the  habitually  boastful  Yankee  to 
be  told  that  the  personal  and  property  rights 
of  women  are  generally  more  safely  guard- 
ed in  Europe  than  here,  but  it  is  true 
nevertheless." 

Mrs.  J.  K.  Henry  said:  "As  if  to  sound  a 
note  of  warning  to  our  rich  girls,  the  American 
press  teems  with  recitals  of  domestic  woes  of  our 
women  who  have  married  titled  foreigners,  but 
they  need  not  go  abroad  to  find  domestic  woes. 
Marital  infidelity  has  well-nigh  turned  our  own 
Republican  domestic  system  into  pandemonium, 
as  our  court  records  everywhere  attest,  but  not 
even  the  smallest  fraction  of  it  has  been  told 
there." 

I  shall  now  quote  to  you  an  opinion  which  I 
value  far  above  any  ever  expressed,  not  only 
because  it  is  the  opinion  of  one  of  the  greatest 
statesmen  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  but 
chiefly  because  it  is  that  of  a  thinker  who  could 
68 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

view  all  Occidental  institutions  with  eyes  of 
equal  impartiality,  and  all  branches  of  the  Cau- 
casian race  without  prejudice  in  favor  of  one 
above  the  other — that  of  the  pre-eminent  Li- 
Hung  Chang,*  who,  when  asked  what  he 
thought  of  woman  in  Western  civilization,  said: 
"Nothing  I  observed  in  my  tour  of  the  world 
caused  me  such  surprise  as  the  position  of  woman 
in  the  American  Republic — I  found  it  as  far 
below  that  of  her  sex  in  Christian  monarchies 
as  I  had  expected  to  find  it  above.  All  I  had 
heard  about  the  'queenship'  of  the  American 
woman,  inquiry  proved  to  be  the  merest  humbug 
and  pretence.  Assuredly  her  crown  is  tinsel 
and  her  throne  is  nil. 

"The  Republic  has  increased  and  augmented 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  its  men  over  those 
of  its  women,  to  a  degree  that  is  not  tolerated 
by  a  monarchy;  and  the  difference  of  condition 
between  the  sexes  is  vastly  greater  in  the  Repub- 
lic than  in  a  monarchy.  A  thorough  investiga- 
tion since  has  convinced  me  that  there  is  no  gov- 

*President  U.  S.  Grant  said  that  Chang  was  one  of  the 
three  really  great  man  he  saw  in  his  tour  of  the  world. 

69 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

ernment  which  is  necessarily  so  antagonistic  to 
all  women  as  a  republic — no  one  in  which  the 
entire  female  sex  may  logically  hope  for  so 
little." 

Let  us  farther  test  the  boast  of  the  American 
Republic  that  its  women  are  better  cared  for, 
better  treated,  better  protected  than  women  in 
any  other  government.  Let  us  take  Russia,  by 
way  of  contrast,  not  through  any  preference 
for  that  country,  but  simply  because  its  gov- 
ernment is  the  very  extreme  in  ideal  from  a  re- 
public. During  the  time  I  had  events  noted  I 
found  that  while  over  eight  thousand  women 
were  murdered  in  the  Republic,  less  than  one 
thousand  women  were  murdered  in  Russia — and 
please  remember  that  Russia  has  almost  twice 
the  population.  The  number  of  women  mur- 
dered in  the  Republic  is  something  appalling,* 
their  murderers  being  in  the  vast  majority  of 
cases  native-born  American  men.  (A  voice:  "I 
suppose  the  women  ought  to  cry  out  'sex  preju- 

*During  the  time  I  kept  tag  I  found  that  over  three- 
fourths  of  the  victims  of  murder  were  women — the  ma- 
jority of  their  murderers  being  their  husbands. 

70 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

dice' !"  )  Yes,  that  is  the  true  solution.  I 
think  Russia  ought  to  address  a  Note  to  that 
masculine  oligarchy,  the  American  Republic, 
and  call  its  attention  thereto;  for  if  as  many 
Russian  Jews  were  murdered,  mutilated,  out- 
raged, denied  justice  and  recognition  as  women 
are  in  the  Republic,  that  Republic  would  cry 
aloud,  "Race  prejudice !"  and  would,  if  it  dared, 
call  Russia's  attention  thereto. 

I  found  there  were  eighty  per  cent,  more 
rapes  committed  in  the  Republic  than  in  Russia. 
So  perilous  is  the  condition  of  woman's  life  and 
body  in  the  entire  Southern  portion  of  the  coun- 
try that  a  Governor  of  eminence  has  advised  all 
women  therein  to  carry  firearms  for  self-de- 
fence.* I  found  that  while  over  nine  thousand 
wives  (exclusive  of  divorcees)  were  deserted  by 
husbands  in  the  Republic,  less  than  five  hundred 
wives  were  deserted  in  Russia.  I  found  that 
while  twelve  women  had  been  mobbed  in  the  Re- 
public, not  a  woman  had  been  mobbed  in  Rus- 

*Russia  liberated  00,000,000  slaves;  the  Republic 
liberated  only  4,000,000. 


71 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

sia.  The  last  case  of  mobbing  I  noted  was  that 
of  a  poor  young  girl,  who,  when  she  truthfully 
disclaimed  any  knowledge  of  the  whereabouts  of 
her  father  (who  had  been  wrongfully  accused  of 
stealing  a  purse  containing  a  few  dollars),  was 
riddled  with  shot,  and,  while  yet  alive,  was 
thrown  into  a  nearby  river.  The  mob  was  com- 
posed of  native-born  Americans,*  who  made  no 
effort  to  conceal  their  identities.  The  State  in 
which  she  had  lived  disavowed  any  capacity  to 
punish  her  murderers,  and  the  National  Govern- 
ment declared  that  it  had  no  authority  to  punish 
them.  I  found  that  several  women  had  met  with 
capital  punishment  in  the  Republic  for  com- 
mission of  murder  upon  ordinary  individuals, 
while  none  had  met  such  for  similar  offences  in 
Russia,  as  this  latter  government  puts  no  wom- 
an to  death  except  for  an  attack  upon  a  member 
of  its  Royal  family.  I  found  that  while  several 

*The  only  reason  I  call  attention  to  the  fact  that 
these  are  native-born  Americans,  is  that  if  I  did  not  some 
American  would  vow  that  it  is  the  vast  foreign-born 
population  in  the  Republic  who  are  guilty  of  these  out- 
rages. 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

native-born  American  judges  had  refused  to 
take  the  testimony  of  women  in  their  courts,  an- 
nouncing from  the  bench,  "All  women  are  liars 
— their  testimony  is  unreliable!"  no  judge  of 
any  Russian  court  had  so  decreed.  I  found 
that  while  several  native-born  American  judges 
had  decided  that  a  husband  had  the  right  to  ad- 
minister corporal  punishment  to  his  wife,  no 
judge  of  a  Russian  court  had  so  decided.  And 
by  the  way,  the  champion  wife-beater  of  the 
world  is  a  native-born  American  whose  wife 
proved  that,  in  a  married  life  of  less  than  twenty 
years,  he  had  administered  to  her  over  a  thou- 
sand beatings.  I  found  that  more  women  work 
in  the  fields  of  America  than  in  Russia,  and 
more  little  girls  work  in  its  factories.  (In  fact 
little  girls  are  not  allowed  to  work  at  all  in 
Russian  factories.)  I  found  that  during  the 
time  that  every  wife  in  Russia  was  mistress  of 
her  own  fortune,  no  wife  could  control  hers  in 
the  Republic ;  and  I  also  found  that  while  women 
in  Russia  have  been  willingly  granted  certain 
privileges,  legal  and  political,  by  the  govern- 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

ment,  women  themselves,  in  the  Republic,  in  the 
face  of  insults  and  attacks  upon  them  amount- 
ing to  persecution,  have  had  to  fight  inch  by 
inch  for  every  privilege  they  possess.  I  never 
think  of  the  difference  in  the  manner  by  which 
Russian  and  American  women  gained  the  privi- 
leges they  each  possess,  without  recalling  to 
mind  the  difference  in  the  manner  by  which  Rus- 
sian slaves  and  American  slaves  were  liberated — 
"the  Czar  by  a  sweep  of  his  pen  struck  off  the 
chains  of  serfdom  from  millions  of  his  subjects, 
(Cheers)  while  the  Republic  waited  to  be  driven 
from  its  system  of  human  slavery  by  fire  and 
sword."  (Hisses.) 

I  trust  I  have  dissipated  forever  such  myths 
as  that  women  in  a  Republic  are  accorded  great- 
er protection,  consideration,  or  tenderness  than 
women  in  any  other  government.  (Voices: 
"You  have  indeed!") 

If  you  should  ever  visit  America  (and  had 
any  courage  left  after  getting  past  the  insulting 
officials  at  the  Port  who  would  receive  you),  you, 
being  especially  interested  in  your  own  sex, 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

would  first  visit  the  great  Astor  Library  in  New 
York  in  order  to  search  for  data  in  relation  to 
woman.  You  would  first  search  through  a  guide- 
book of  New  York  City  to  find  public  monu- 
ments erected  therein  to  American  women — but 
you  would  not  find  one — then  you  would  think 
of  those  in  the  metropolises  of  monarchies  erect- 
ed in  honour  of  their  women. 

You  had  expected  that  in  every  metropolis  of 
the  Republic  there  would  be  a  monument  to 
Isabella  of  Spain,  reaching  to  the  very  clouds; 
that  America  had  remembered  the  impetus  given 
to  it  by  Elizabeth  of  England,  and  that  her 
statue  would  cap  the  dome  of  its  every  capitol; 
that  everywhere  bronze  and  marble  images  would 
bespeak  reverence  for  Abigail  Adams  and  Mar- 
garet Brent,  who  fearlessly  raised  their  voices 
against  that  greatest  crime  of  all  the  centuries — 
against  the  Republic  of  the  United  States  of 
America  snatching  woman  from  a  government 
wherein  woman  could  be  Queen,  and  placing 
its  educated,  taxpaying  womanhood  in  position 
to  become  serfs  to  the  lowest  races  and  orders 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

of  mankind;  that  a  public  reminder  would  ap- 
pear everywhere  in  honour  of  Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe,  who  opened  with  her  pen  the  Bastille  of 
Slavery  and  led  forth  4,000,000  human  chattels 
as  freedmen;  that  monuments  penetrating  the 
very  skies,  would  appear  throughout  the  land 
in  glory  of  Elizabeth  Stanton  and  Susan  An- 
thony, to  whom  American  womanhood  owes  prac- 
tically all  the  advance,  recognitions  and  privi- 
leges which  have  been  accorded  the  sex;*  that 
Frances  Willard,  who  did  more  than  any  other 
human  being  to  teach  men  "it  is  a  crime  to  take 
into  their  stomachs  an  enemy  to  steal  away  their 
brains,"  would  be  remembered  with  public  sta- 
tues everywhere.  But  you  would  find  that  this 
land  which  has  produced  women  with  characters 
and  brains  as  lofty  and  broad  as  its  mountains 
and  inland  seas  (and  no  women  in  the  world  are 
nobler,  more  intelligent,  more  virtuous  than 

*Such  great  women  and  friends  to  womankind  as 
Stacy  Stone,  Mary  A.  Livermore,  Julia  Ward  Howe 
(of  a  younger  generation),  Lillie  D.  Blake,  and  Anna 
Shaw,  might  have  been  classed  with  these  two  origin- 
ators in  America  of  "the  Woman  Movement." 


76 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

those  of  America)  has  not  a  single  public  monu- 
ment to  any  woman  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  Republic.  On  inquiry  you  would 
not  be  surprised  for  you  would  find  that  a  re- 
public is  merely  a  masculine  oligarchy,  and  that 
it  naturally  has  not  volunteered  to  honour  any  . 
woman.* 

Then  you  would  search  further  in  the  guide 
to  New  York  for  theatres,  railway  stations,, 
museums,  markets  and  libraries  named  in  hon- 
our of  American  women.  You  would  not  find 
one.  And  that  would  cause  you  to  think  of  the 
violent  contrast  between  the  Republic  and  aris- 
tocracies in  this  matter.  You  would  next  look 
for  the  streets,  parks,  boulevards,  named  after 
American  women.  You  would  not  find  one ;  but 
you  would  think  how  many  such  could  be  found 
in  the  metropolises  of  monarchies.  You  would 
next  look  at  the  names  of  the  great  inter-ocean 
steamers  and  for  the  ships  of  the  Navy 

*There  are  two  or  three  statues  to  women,  but  they 
were  erected  by  their  private  friends;  they  are  in  no 
sense  monuments. 


77 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

standing  in  its  docks.  Not  one  of  them,  you 
would  find,  was  named  after  an  American 
woman.  And  you  would  remember  how 
that  many  of  the  ships  and  docks  of  mon- 
archies are  named  after  women.  You  might 
next  try  to  find  out  what  political  offices  were 
filled  by  women  in  the  Empire  State  of  New 
York — a  State  where  women  pay  millions  an- 
nually in  taxes.  And  again  your  search  would 
be  in  vain,  for  you  would  not  find  one.  In  de- 
spair you  would  scan  the  names  of  the  counties, 
mountain  peaks,  and  States  throughout  the 
land,  thinking  that  among  them  you  might  pos- 
sibly find  at  least  one  given  in  honour  of  an 
American  woman.  You  would  have  your  labour 
for  your  pains,  for  you  would  not  find  one. 
Then  you  would  remember  how  in  aristocratic 
lands  woman  has  been  so  highly  honoured  in 
these  respects.  Then,  in  bewilderment,  you 
would  seek  the  political  history  of  the  United 
States  government  and  hunt  for  the  names  of 
American  women  honoured  therein.  You  would 
find  not  one.  And  then  you  would  think  of 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

women  were  honoured  in  the  public  histories  of 
monarchies. 

Then  you  might  run  over  to  Washington  to 
see  a  President  inaugurated  into  office.  As  he 
passed  through  the  streets,  honoured  and  viewed 
by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  citizens,  you  would 
notice  to  your  amazement  that  there  was  no 
woman  at  his  side,  no  women  in  the  escort,  but 
only  men,  MEN,  MEN.  Then  you  would  think 
of  the  coronation  of  your  own  Sovereign,  as  he 
passed  through  the  streets  with  a  woman  who 
was  crowned  at  his  side  and  ladies  in  his  escort; 
or  of  Queen  Wilhelmina,  as  she  lately  passed 
through  the  streets  of  Holland  amid  the  cheers 
of  thousands  of  her  subjects,  with  ladies  in  her 
escort.  Then,  on  reflection,  you  would  see  it 
would  be  ridiculous  for  the  President's  wife  or 
any  woman  in  the  Republic  to  escort  the  Presi- 
dent, for  women  can  not  be  leaders  there  in  any 
civic  function,  because  they  have  no  official  rank 
— they  are  not  honorary  Admirals,  or  Colonels 
of  regiments  like  the  Empress  of  Germany  and 
many  titled  ladies;  or  Governors,  like  Princess 
Henry  of  Battenberg,  and  do  not  receive 
79 


REPUBLICS  w.  WOMAN 

many    like    honours    such    as    ladies    have    in 
aristocracies.* 

You  would  listen  to  the  President's  inaugural 
address  (or  the  taking  of  his  oath  of  office)  and 
would  see  no  woman  was  near,  as  an  attendant, 
and  that  the  President  made  no  reference  to 
women, — no  woman's  name  has  ever  been 
mentioned  in  any  inaugural  address  of  any 
President  in  the  Republic  since  the  beginning  of 
the  government.  Then,  you  would  think  of  the 
coronation  speech  lately  uttered  by  King  Vic- 

*I  will  here  illustrate  for  my  readers  by  referring  to 
the  visit  of  Prince  Henry  of  Prussia  to  America,  which 
has  occurred  since  this  speech  was  made.  This  Imperial 
personage  was  not  received  officially  by  any  woman  any- 
where in  the  Republic,  no  woman  having  a  sufficient 
public  rank  to  receive  him  officially.  When  he  dined 
officially  at  the  White  House  (the  President's  official 
residence)  no  woman  was  present.  (Even  if  the  Presi- 
dent's wife  had  been  present,  it  would  have  been  only  as 
a  private  individual).  When  he  attended  the  opera 
officially,  no  woman  was  in  his  box.  At  the  official  ban- 
quets which  were  tendered  to  him  by  cities,  States  or 
by  the  nation,  no  woman  was  present.  This  could  not 
have  occurred  in  any  aristocracy,  for  the  year  previous, 
even  when  visiting  China,  the  chief  personage  to  give 
him  official  recognition  was  the  Empress. 

80 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

tor  Emmanuel  III.  of  Italy,  which  teems  with 
thanks  and  gratitude  to  women — recognition  of 
the  Queen-Mother  and  Queen- Wife. 

You  would  find  (and  it  would  surprise  you 
beyond  belief)  that  it  is  illegal  for  the  American 
Government — against  its  very  National  Consti- 
tution— even  to  tender  thanks  to  a  woman  how- 
ever great  her  service  may  be  to  it ;  that  on  the 
very  day  that  its  Congress  refused  to  vote  a  mes- 
sage of  thanks  to  a  noble  young  woman*  who 
had  given  a  fortune  to  its  Army,  three  aristoc- 
racies had  conferred  distinguished  favours  upon 
women, — the  Czar  of  Russia  even  appointing 
one  an  honorary  Admiral  in  his  Navy. 

You  would  find  that  no  woman,  in  recogni- 
tion of  her  own  individual  ability  or  merit  has 
ever  been  entertained  at  dinner  at  the  White 
House.  Then  you  would  involuntarily  think  of 
the  many  women  who  had  been  publicly  feted 
in  the  palaces  of  your  rulers.  (There  is  no  other 
country  where  women  of  ability  receive  so  little 
recognition  or  encouragement  from  "the  powers 
that  be"  as  in  America — "the  powers  that  be" 
*Helen  Gould. 

81 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

including  the  Presidents,  Governors  of  States 
and  officialdom  generally.) 

You  would  find  that  no  woman  was  ever  grant- 
ed a  National  or  State  funeral  in  the  Republic; 
even  the  funeral  of  a  President's  wife  is  always 
private,  the  time  of  her  burial  or  evidences  of 
mourning  being  unobserved  throughout  the 
land.  Then  you  would  think  of  all  Austria  late- 
ly stricken  in  grief  and  clad  in  mourning  for 
their  beloved  Empress  Elizabeth. 

Then  you  would  notice  that  a  President's  wife 
is  not  a  Presidentess,  and  that  political  history 
does  not  of  necessity  make  mention  of  the  fact 
that  he  had  a  wife.  An  Emperor's  wife  is  an 
Empress,  a  King's  is  a  Queen,  a  Duke's  is  a 
Duchess,  the  wife  of  a  Marquis  is  a  Marchio- 
ness and  so  on.  But  American  titles  (and  they 
are  legion)  belong  exclusively  to  males,  and  every 
wife  is  simply  a  plain  "Mrs."  An  aristocrat 
shares  his  titles  and  honours  with  his  wife,  but 
in  a  democracy  the  men  wear  "all  the  mantles," 
and  all  the  "plums"  fall  into  masculine  laps. 

You  would  find  that  the  personal  or  individu- 
al face  of  no  American  woman  has  ever  been 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

upon  the  bills  or  upon  the  coins  of  the  Republic, 
but  only  those  of  men,  MEN,  MEN.*  Then  you 
would  think  of  Queen  Victoria's  beloved  counte- 
nance, during  the  greater  part  of  the  century, 
and  of  the  beautiful  image  of  Queen  Wilhelmina, 
upon  the  coins  and  bills  of  their  respective  coun- 
tries. 

Then  you  would  recall  the  fact  that  in  an 
aristocracy  married  women  often  keep  their 
maiden  titles  or  name,  but  that  the  only  couple 
of  cases  you  would  find  here  of  married  women 
who  kept  their  maiden  name  were  those  who  were 
ridiculed  or  censured  therefor.  (In  aristocracies 
the  husband  and  the  children  sometimes  take  the 
wife's  names,  and  no  adverse  comments  are 
caused  thereby. )  In  fact,  married  ladies  are  not 
deemed  of  enough  importance  to  have  their 
names  in  any  public  directory  of  any  city  in  the 
Republic. 

You  would  find  that  cultured  ladies  in  the 
Republic  are  also  at  a  terrible  disadvantage  and 
that  they  never  can  create  Salons — that  there 

*Wherever  women's   faces  are  used  they  are  imper- 
sonal. 

88 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

never  could  be  in  the  United  States  the  equiva- 
lents of  a  Lady  Palmerston,  or  a  Lady  Blessing- 
ton,  or  a  Lady  Jersey,  or  a  Lady  Salisbury. 

You  would  find,  in  spite  of  all  you  had  heard 
to  the  contrary,  that  there  is  only  one  American 
woman  whose  fortune  (she  amassed  it  herself) 
can  at  all  compare  with  many  of  the  vast  for-  * 
tunes  of  women  in  Europe.* 

You  would  find  that  even  the  sports  and  all 
such  pastimes  of  these  women  are  copied  from 
an  aristocracy  (no  American  ever  having  origi- 
nated such  pleasures,  liberties,  or  benefits  for 
women) — until  the  late  rather  close  intercourse 
between  these  and  English  women,  American 
women  were  generally  very  under-sized  and  deli- 
cate— thus  even  the  larger  physical  growth  of 
Americans  to-day  has  depended  upon  a  Mon- 
archy. 

You  would  find  that  even  in  woman's  sup- 
posedly most  natural  sphere,  the  social  one,  wom- 
en in  a  republic  are  at  a  very  great  disadvan- 
tage compared  with  their  sex  in  an  aristocracy — 
no  woman  in  a  democracy  has  ever  been  sufficient- 

*Mrs.  Hetty  Green. 

84 


REPUBLICS  w.  WOMAN 

ly  a  social  leader  to  establish  general  fashions, 
either  political,  moral,  mental  or  physical.  The 
reason  why  all  women  in  a  republic  are  socially 
insignificant  (even  a  President's  wife  having  no 
prestige  or  influence  outside  of  her  little  coterie 
of  personal  friends)  is  because  no  one  is  made 
pre-eminent  by  such  a  government. 

It  would  occur  to  you  that  if  a  woman  be  at 
the  head  of  an  aristocracy  she  can  address  a 
proposal  to  a  man  of  marriage,  without  the 
propriety  thereof  being  questioned,  but  the 
woman  who  claimed  this  as  her  prerogative  in  a 
Republic  would  arouse  masculine  ire  generally 
thereby. 

You  would  remember  that  at  balls  and  on  all 
such  occasions  that  all  Royal  ladies  take  the 
initiative  again  and  ask  men  to  dance  with  them, 
escort  them  about  and  such  like  things — but  no 
woman  in  a  Republic  would  dare  claim  such  as 
her  rightful  prerogative. 

You  could  go  on  indefinitely  making  these 

contrasts  in  favour  of  your  sex  in  an  aristocracy, 

but  you  would   cease,   as  by   now  you   would 

clearly  see  that  woman  has  about  as  much  future 

85 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

or  chance  in  a  Republic  as  a  snowball  has  under 
a  scorching  sun.  You  would  realize  that  am- 
bitious womanhood  and  a  republic  cannot  exist 
together — the  two  are  hopelessly  incompatible. 
You  would  realize  that  there  is  nothing  woman 
can  achieve  in  a  republic  which  she  cannot 
achieve  in  far  less  time  and  with  far  less  exer- 
tion, trial,  self-denial  or  humiliation  in  a  mon- 
archy, and  there  are  many  things  which 
your  sex  can  achieve  in  a  monarchy  that  through 
no  effort,  self-denial,  or  time  can  it  achieve  in 
a  republic.  And  you  would  realize  that  as  indi- 
viduals in  every  government  must  retrograde  if 
they  cannot  go  forward,  as  human  society  must 
go  backward  if  it  cannot  advance,  and  as  a 
republic  places  all  our  sex  in  the  same  mold, 
where  it  keeps  them  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave, 
that  woman  is  the  reef  upon  which  every  republi- 
can ship  of  state  will  founder. 

Then  you  would  find  that  nearly  six  million 
women  in  the  Republic  work  for  their  daily 
bread  outside  their  households,  thousands  work- 
ing in  "sweatshops"  at  starvation  wages,  aver- 
aging only  a  dollar  and  a  half  to  two  dollars  per 
86 


REPUBLICS  w.  WOMAN 

week.  According  to  that  good  friend  of  all 
women,  "The  New  York  Journal,"  seven  thou- 
sand women  go  insane  annually  in  New  York 
alone  for  want  of  sufficient  food  and  clothing. 

Slavery  far  worse  than  that  of  the  negro 
before  the  war,  serfdom  far  worse  than  that 
which  ever  existed  in  mediaeval  Europe,  binds 
down  these  helpless  creatures.  Do  you  wonder 
that  there  are  in  America  as  vast  armies  of  out- 
cast women  as  in  any  country  on  earth — that 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  these  victims,  ground 
down  by  competition  to  the  point  of  starvation, 
in  misery  and  degradation,  yield  to  temptations 
which  give  them  food,  clothing,  shelter? 

"If  you  have  tears  to  shed  prepare  to  shed 
them  now."  You  would  find  that  all  you  had 
heard  about  American  men  working  only  that 
the  women  of  their  families  could  have  "heaps" 
of  money  to  spend  is  like  all  the  other  myths, 
for  you  would  ascertain  that  while  the  women 
in  New  York  spend  $40,000,000  for  such  neces- 
saries as  dresses,  the  men  spend  on  alcoholic 
drinks  and  tobacco  alone,  almost  $100,000,000 ; 
upon  their  palatial  clubs  (to  which  no  woman 
87 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

belongs)  sports,  and  such  mentionable  luxuries 
about  $60,000,000  more;  and  that  (in  a  whis- 
per) all  this  is  a  mere  bagatelle  to  what  they 
spend  on  the  "unmentionable."*  (Laughter.  A 
voice:  "Poor,  virtuous  paragons!"  Another 
voice:  "You  have  buried  our  last  illusion.") 
Amen! 

I  feel  sure  you  now  agree  with  me  that  democ- 
racy has  added  nothing  to  woman's  power,  in- 
fluence, opportunity — that  our  sex  has  not 
gained  thereby  financially,  politically,  legally, 
socially,  nor  been  blessed  therein  by  association 
with  a  more  sober,  more  chaste,  more  unselfish 
manhood  than  elsewhere — and  that  all  women 
therein  have  lost  forever  the  distinctions,  hon- 
ours, favours,  glories,  powers,  opportunities, 
which  belong  to  some  of  the  sex  in  an  aristoc- 
racy, to  enough  at  least  to  make  it  quite  re- 
spectable to  be  publicly  classed  with  women. 
(Laughter.) 

I  feel  sure  our  young  friend  will  never  again 
ask  me,  "Why  do  so  many  American  women  seek 
to  live  in  aristocracies?"     You  cannot  find  an 
*The  same  ratio  holds  throughout  the  country. 
88 


REPUBLICS  w.  WOMAN 

ambitious  woman  in  any  monarchy  who  wishes 
to  live  in  a  republic.  Millions  of  women  in 
republics  would  gladly  desert  their  governments, 
if  their  freedom  from  family  ties  admitted  of 
such  a  step.  There  is  a  true  saying  (which 
originated  in  America  by  the  way)  that  "every 
woman  is  at  heart  an  aristocrat."  This  arises 
from  that  strongest  impulse  of  nature,  self- 
preservation  (as  well  as  a  desire  for  sex-preser- 
vation) and  insures  woman's  lasting  allegiance 
to  aristocratic  institutions. 

The  greatest  misfortune  that  ever  befel 
American  women  was  that  their  colonies  broke 
away  from  English  rule,  for  they  must  always 
desert  their  native  land,  kith  and  kin,  and  live 
under  a  foreign  flag  in  order  to  gain  the  super- 
ior sex-recognition  which  a  republic  denies 
them. 

In  every  aristocracy  large  numbers  of  women 
always  have  greater  power,  authority,  and  op- 
portunity than  the  vast  majority  of  men,  but 
in  a  democracy  (even  with  the  ballot)  no  class 
of  women  will  ever  possess  authority,  oppor-j 
tunity,  or  power  higher  than  its  lowest  classes 
89 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

of  males.  I  grant  that  woman  generally  has 
not  grown  in  aristocracies  as  she  should  have 
done — but  there  is  nothing  inherent  in  such  in- 
stitutions to  prevent  her  growth;  her  condition 
therein  is  like  the  grain  of  wheat  buried  for 
thousands  of  years  with  a  mummy,  grain  which 
grows  and  blossoms  when  the  necessary  condi- 
tions are  furnished.  But  woman's  condition  in 
a  republic  is  like  that  of  a  grain  of  sand,  which 
can  never  grow  and  blossom,  whatever  condition 
may  be  furnished,  as  it  has  no  inherent  germi- 
nating qualities. 

I  feel  sure  no  one  can  look  into  these  matters 
as  deeply  as  I  have  done,  without  deciding  that 
there  is  no  government  which  gives  woman  such 
scope  for  her  ambition  as  an  aristocracy;  for 
differentiation,  that  law  of  all-enduring  pro- 
gress, growth  and  aspiration,  is  the  inherent 
law  of  European  monarchies. 

I  beg  you  never  to  let  anybody  persuade  you 
to  believe  that  it  is  the  comparative  youth  of  the 
American  Republic  which  causes  these  dispar- 
agements, for  this  is  not  true.  (Voices:  "So, 
sol")  New  Zealand,  and  West  Australia  are 
90 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

young  enough  to  be  its  great  grand-children, 
and  yet  women  therein  enjoy  not  only  all  the 
rights,  privileges,  liberties — political,  legal,  civil 
and  social — of  women  in  the  oldest  communities, 
but  they  enjoy  as  well  all  the  distinctions,  hon- 
ours, recognitions,  favours,  glories  and  powers. 
The  true  reasons  are  that  New  Zealand  and 
West  Australia  are  the  arteries  of  an  aristoc- 
racy; and  that  every  republic  is  inherently  a 
masculine  monopoly,  as  dangerous  to  woman's 
future  as  the  Upas  tree  to  life.  (Cheers  and 
prolonged  applause.) 

THE    SIMILARITY 
OF    THE    THREE    "ISMS" 

I  have  striven  to  show  you  woman's  position 
in  a  democracy  because  you  had  already  right- 
fully agreed,  before  you  ever  saw  me,  that  its 
conception  of  our  sex  would  be  preserved,  should 
your  ideas  of  society  prevail.  As  your  ideals 
are  emanations  from  republicanism,  I  know  that 
you  ladies  are  either  socialists  or  anarchists.  I 
have  not  presumed  to  ask  which,  nor  shall  I  do 
91 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

so,  but  I  think  I  have  rightfully  surmised  that 
you  lean  toward  anarchism.  I  have  never  for 
an  instant  thought  you  were  the  especial  devotees 
of  republics,  but  I  have  gone  minutely  into  such 
government  to  prove  to  you  that  the  promises 
held  forth  to  our  sex  by  theoretic  institutions 
cannot  be  relied  on.  (A  voice:  "And  I  believe 
you  are  correct!") 

Socialism  only  claims  to  be  the  economic  com- 
plement of  democracy  and  every  thinker  con- 
cedes that  beyond  democracy  there  is  only 
anarchy.  If  you  will  reason  all  this  out  you 
will  see  how  absolutely  correct  are  these  asser- 
tions and  how  close  to  republicanism  are  anarchy 
and  socialism — or  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
go  six  inches  beyond  a  republic  without  en- 
countering socialism,  and  that  a  foot  farther  on 
you  must  inevitably  meet  anarchism.  Or,  as 
Josiah  Strong,  a  most  popular  American  writer, 
says,  "Beyond  republicanism  there  is  only  an- 
archism," and  nobody  is  mad  enough  to  attempt 
to  contradict  him. 

I  read  very  hurriedly   (never  expecting  to 
quote  the  same  at  the  time)  several  years  ago, 
92 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

an  article  in  a  review  which  asserted  that  the 
American  Republic  is  the  sire  of  both  socialism 
and  anarchism.  The  author  claimed  that  he  knew 
these  three  "isms"  in  their  correct  connotation, 
could  correctly  define  each,  was  thoroughly  con- 
versant with  the  teachings  of  all,  and  that  it  was 
on  account  of  his  intimate  acquaintance  with 
them  that  he  so  readily  traced  their  kinship. 
He  farther  said,  "I  know  that  anarchism  would 
destroy  all  powers  of  government  and  that 
socialism  would  multiply  its  powers;  but  these 
three  'isms,'  although  they  differ  upon  minor 
points,  have  aims  which  are  one  and  would  unite 
to  repel  a  common  foe."  He  proved  his  asser- 
tions by  showing  how  the  American  Republic, 
hiding  behind  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  repelled  and 
resisted  the  establishment  of  monarchies  in 
South  America  and  gave  constant  protection  to 
the  anarchies  therein — and  farther  that  even  the 
most  radical  socialists  agree  that  the  republican 
drill  has  to  make  only  one  more  turn  when  it  will 
penetrate  the  socialistic  strata."  He  said,  more- 
over, "It  is  generally  supposed  that  Prodhoun 
was  the  earliest  modern  philosophic  anarchist, 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

but  this  is  a  mistake.  It  was  Thomas  Jefferson, 
the  author  of  the  American  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence (which  is  the  very  keystone  of  the  re- 
publican arch  and  without  which  the  entire 
structure  would  fall)  and  he  preceded  both 
Prodhoun  and  Fourrier  or  Owen  (founders  of 
Socialism)  from  a  fourth  to  a  half  of  a  century. 
Thomas  Jefferson  was  the  very  first  to  enunciate 
an  ideal  of  political  society  which  is  anarchy 
pure  and  simple,  and  there  has  never  been  any 
other  definition  given  of  it.  He  indicated  the 
goal  of  all  government  and  law  as  a  social  order 
in  which  there  would  be  no  government,  no  laws 
upon  Statute  Books,  and  wherein  every  citizen 
would  be  a  self -governed  unit.  The  real  found- 
ers of  the  Republic  believed  that  the  true  work 
of  society  is  to  do  away  with  any  government, 
and  although  they  believed  this,  they  founded  a 
government  which  in  every  respect,  except  one, 
(and  this  is  provided  for)  was  a  socialistic  com- 
munity and  all  that  socialism  claims  as  its  ideal." 
But  it  is  entirely  immaterial  whether  you  be- 
lieve all  this  or  not.  The  study  of  a  republic 
will,  I  feel  sure,  convince  you  that  our  sex  can- 
94 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

not  rely  upon  the  promises  held  forth  by  theo- 
retic institutions.  To  my  mind  any  woman  who, 
after  thoroughly  studying  a  republic,  can  de- 
lude herself  into  believing  that  either  socialism 
or  anarchism  will  be  more  scrupulous  in  keeping 
its  promises  to  our  sex  than  it  has  been,  is  a  fit 
subject  for  a  lunatic  asylum ;  she  fails  to  remem- 
ber "the  apple  does  not  fall  far  from  the  tree." 
As  I  wanted  to  convince  you  like  conditions 
will  always  produce  like  results,  I  felt  that  by 
demonstrating  the  characteristics  of  a  republic, 
I  could  clearly  show  you  what  our  sex  may  ex- 
pect from  either  socialism  or  anarchism.  I  felt 
that  an  acquaintance  with  democracy  would 
cure  you  forever  of  a  belief  in  the  masses  of 
men, — of  faith  in  their  mental  or  moral  capa- 
bilities, and  of  trust  in  their  unselfish  friendship 
for  your  sex.  I  felt  that  when  I  got  through 
with  democracy  you  would  have  just  as  little 
faith  left  in  theoretic  institutions  as — as — well 
as  I  have.  (Laughter.)  That  you  would  agree 
with  me  "the  game  is  not  worth  the  candle,"  and 
that  you  would  detect  that  the  pet  you  seek  is  of 
the  identical  species  as  that  caught  by  republi- 
95 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

can  women — the  Vulture,  instead  of  the  Bird  of 
Paradise. 

Anarchism  is  the  greatest  delusion  and  the 
most  impractical  scheme  of  society  ever  ad- 
vanced, and  one  that  cannot  possibly  endure 
until  countless  centuries  have  evolved  semi-angels 
or  beings  who  are  as  much  higher  than  men, 
as  men  are  higher  than  monkeys.  It  fails  to 
note  that  well-working  institutions  cannot  be 
formed  out  of  ill-working  humanity,  and  that 
the  nature  of  the  aggregate  cannot  be  better 
than  the  average  of  its  units.  While  "mere 
men"  continue  to  exist,  anarchism  could  only 
mean,  for  women,  chaos  and  absolute  terrorism. 

The  results  of  socialism  (which  means  having 
to  live  under  a  centralized  officialism,  holding  in 
its  hands  the  entire  resources  of  the  community 
and  having  behind  it  whatever  amount  of  force 
it  found  requisite  to  carry  out  its  decrees)  would 
be  an  unendurable  slavery.  Such  a  consolidated 
organization  would  be  absolutely  irresistible  and 
the  result  would  be  a  despotism  exceeding  any 
so  far  experienced  by  our  sex. 

Socialism  and  anarchism  are  only  dreams — 
96 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

phantoms  of  the  imagination.  Their  castles  of 
happiness  and  content,  of  virtue  and  unselfish- 
ness would  dissolve  like  the  similar  visions  of 
republicanism,  on  awakening  to  real  life  and  the 
practical  experience  of  earth.  (Cheers.) 

I  can  speak  more  feelingly,  and  may  I  say, 
more  understandingly,  on  these  subjects  than  al- 
most any  person  who  might  have  addressed  you, 
for,  it  was  an  illustrious  kinsman  of  mine*  who 
wrote  the  first  distinctively  American  verse  ever 
written  to  prove  that  a  republic  is  the  noblest, 
most  unselfish,  purest  government  on  earth. 
And  a  great-grandmother  of  mine  believed  as 
devoutly  in  republicanism  as  some  people  do 
to-day  in  socialism  or  anarchism;  her  grand- 
father wrote  her  from  England  (during  the 

*Joel  Barlow  (born  1755),  considered  by  his  biogra- 
phers to  be  one  of  the  few  versatile  men  among  the 
greater  figures  of  the  post-revolutionary  times.  His 
prose  writings  contributed  largely  to  the  success  of 
republicanism  in  America  and  France.  His  verse  it  was 
which  first  gave  American  poetry  a  standing  in  Europe. 
He  was  the  first  American  cosmopolite,  and  he  twice 
used  his  great  influence  successfully  to  avert  foreign 
wars  from  his  country.  (See  any  standard  English  or 
American  Encyclopedia.) 

97 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

American  Revolution,  at  the  time  when  the 
American  Colonies  were  freeing  themselves  from 
British  rule)  urging  her  to  be  loyal  to  the  Moth- 
er Country,  telling  her  that  democracy  was  a 
chimera  which  meant  for  women  a  loss  of  the  dis- 
tinction they  possessed  as  subjects  of  a  mon- 
archy, without  giving  them  any  corresponding 
advantages  in  exchange  But  she,  poor  mis- 
taken woman,  reasoned  that  institutions  founded 
upon  such  expressed  terms  of  fraternity,  equal- 
ity and  freedom,  could  not  go  wrong,  and  wom- 
an's position  therein  could  only  be  ideal.  She 
argued  that  men  who  were  willing  to  cross  the 
valley  and  shadow  of  death  to  establish  such 
lofty  principles  would  found  a  government  as 
solid  as  the  Rock  of  Ages,  and  one  whose  jus- 
tice would  only  be  a  little  lower  than  that  of 
Paradise.  Yet,  you  have  seen  the  disastrous 
results  of  all  these  high-flown  theories  for  wom- 
en, and  in  far  less  time  than  I  have  taken  to  tell 
you  of  them,  I  could  prove  to  you  that  they  have 
been  equally  disastrous  for  men — but,  I  have 
promised  to  only  speak  of  our  own  sex  and  I 
must  not  digress. 

98 


KEPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

Now,  let  us  go  back  and  again  examine  the 
republic  and  see  more  of  its  traits  in  order  to 
better  grasp  what  women  would  realize  from 
either  socialism  or  anarchism  and  to  know  how 
far  our  sex  can  rely  upon  theoretic  promises.  I 
will  begin  my  illustrations  by  repeating  detached 
portions  of  the  "American  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence," "Bill  of  Rights,"  and  "The  Consti- 
tution," as  written  by  the  very  founders  of  the 
American  Republic  and  which  give  the  first 
utterances.  "We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self- 
evident,  that  all  human  beings  are  created 
equal";  "that  just  governments  derive  their 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed" ;  "that 
taxation  without  representation  is  tyranny"; — 
yet  that  government  has  during  its  entire  his- 
tory taxed  women  without  representation,  gov- 
erned and  ruled  without  her  consent,  and  has 
•punished,  imprisoned,  tried,  and  fined  her  for 
attempting  to  put  these  principles  into  prac- 
tice. That  constitution  guaranteed  a  trial  "by 
jury  of  one's  peers,"  yet  woman  was  not  allowed 
a  jury  of  her  peers,  and  at  times  was  refused  a 
jury  at  all;  then  it  further  guaranteed  "no  Bill 
99 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

of  Attainder  should  ever  be  passed" — yet  it 
attainted  all  the  women  of  the  nation  by  placing 
the  word  "male"  into  that  very  same  Constitu- 
tion, and  thereby  made  sex  a  crime — and  with 
that  one  word  it  wiped  away  and  utterly  de- 
stroyed for  American  women  every  right  their 
sex  had  gained  for  centuries. 

Could  promises  and  practices  be  farther 
apart?  Could  theory  and  result  be  farther 
asunder?  Have  socialists  or  anarchists  made 
more  devout  or  alluring  promises  to  our  sex? 
Believe  me,  the  result  will  be  the  same  to  women 
whenever  theories  are  established.  (Voices: — 
"True!  true!") 

Every  political  speech  ever  uttered  at  every 
political  meeting  ever  held  in  the  Republic,  and 
every  politician  who  has  ever  publicly  spoken 
them,  has  given  vent  to  these  exact  words  (dif- 
ferently arranged  each  time,  of  course,  to  be 
more  effective.)  "Ours  is  the  only  nation 
builded  on  freedom,  bulwarked  by  justice,  and 
guided  by  the  higher  sense  of  right.  Wherever 
oppression,  injustice,  or  despotism  weigh  upon 
any  people,  they  turn  their  eyes  to  this  land  of 
100 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

freedom.  Our  Republic  is  the  politico-religious 
handmaid  of  Providence — it  is  a  pillar  of  cloud 
by  day,  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night,  and  a  beacon  of 
light  at  all  times  to  the  liberty-loving  people  of 
the  entire  globe."  (A  voice:  "Are  they  not 
modest?"  Laughter.)  "Ours  is  the  only  flag 
in  all  the  world  on  which  is  written  in  reality — 
Liberty  and  Equality — the  grandest  words  in 
all  the  language  of  men!  All  who  stand  be- 
neath our  flag  are  free — the  rights  of  all  are 
equal  and  no  privileges  are  accorded  to  one  citi- 
zen above  another.  Our  'Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence' announces  the  sublime  truth  that  all 
power  comes  from  the  people  and  it  makes  every 
citizen  a  sovereign.  The  principle  that  all  hu- 
man beings  are  created  equal  and  should  have 
equal  rights  is  never  disputed  in  this  land  of 
liberty,  (A  voice:  "Oh,  no,  never!")  this 
home  of  the  free,  this  country  of  the  brave." 
(Continued  laughter.)  "For  the  first  time  in  all 
the  ages  there  is  perfect  political  equality  for 
all  beneath  the  one  flag,  for  our  forefathers, 
thank  God,  made  the  *  Stars  and  Stripes'*  wide 
*The  American  flag. 

101 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

enough  to  cover  us  all  alike.  The  cry  of  ex- 
pediency has  bulwarked  all  tyrants  and  despots, 
but  no  cry  born  of  expediency  is  ever  allowed 
in  America  to  take  the  place  of  our  fundamental 
demands  of  equality  and  freedom.  For  this  is 
the  only  nation  which  has  had  the  courage  to 
prove  that  the  ballot  box  is  the  focus  of  all  other 
rights,  and  that  it  is  the  Palladium,  the  safe- 
guard of  all  liberty.  We  are  all  equal  here  in 
the  ballot — that  right  which  is  the  preservative 
of  all  rights,  and  all  have  the  same  right  to  self- 
government."  (Shrieks  of  laughter.) 

Thank  you,  ladies,  for  your  cheers  and  peals 
of  laughter — they  convince  me  you  now  see  the 
absurdity,  vanity  and  hyprocrisy  of  it  all.  For 
I  have  shown  you  there  are  millions  of  women 
in  the  Republic  who  have  no  voice  in  the  laws 
that  govern  them,  have  no  self-government,  have 
not  a  vote — that  right  which  is  declared  to  be 
the  preservative  of  all  rights. 

Think  of  men  having  the  audacity  to  make 

such  assertions  in  a  government  where  millions 

of  women  have  no  more  political  rights  than  the 

wild   beasts    of   the   forest;    in    a    government 

102 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

where  millions  of  women  are  denied  self-govern- 
ment, or  the  capacity  for  self-government;  and 
which  only  contemplates  their  dependence  and 
vassalage ! 

I  have  repeated  those  bombastic  republican 
speeches  to  show  you  the  absolute  meaningless- 
ness  of  theoretic  preachings;  to  convince  you 
of  the  difference  between  such  promises  and  ac- 
tions ;  to  prove  to  you  the  difference  between 
such  principles  and  practice;  and  to  persuade 
you  to  believe  that  woman  should  not  venture 
to  lean  upon  such  slender  reeds. 

Believe  me,  for  women  to  raise  their  hands 
against  aristocracries  is  a  piece  of  folly  so  great 
that  in  reality  it  becomes  a  crime.  I  beg  you  to 
hesitate  before  hopelessly  allying  yourselves  to 
socialism  or  anarchism — to  first  ask  yourselves 
if  you  are  willing  to  abandon  conditions  which 
have  given  some  women  powers,  honours,  distinc- 
tions (thus  establishing  a  standard  of  respect 
for  all  women), and  thereby  to  retrace  your  steps 
to  the  semi-barbarous  position  assigned  to  all 
women  by  the  first  of  these  theoretic  institutions 
(the  republic)  to  be  largely  tried,  and  which 
103 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

foreshadows  the  other  two  (socialism  and  an- 
archism) ;  to  ask  yourselves  if  you  are  willing  to 
encourage  conditions  which  will  forever  strip  the 
imperial  purple  from  every  member  of  your 
sex,  which  will  forever  force  every  woman  to 
abdicate  a  throne,  which  will  forever  snatch  all 
sceptres  of  power  from  the  hands  of  all  femin- 
inity, which  will  forever  rob  every  member  of 
your  sex  of  rank,  eminence  and  authority,  and 
which  in  exchange  will  make  all  women  serfs  to 
the  lowest  orders  of  manhood ;  to  ask  yourselves 
if  you  are  willing  to  aid  in  establishing  institu- 
tions which  this  republican  precedent  proves 
will  inevitably  proclaim  their  contempt  for  wom- 
an and  will  repudiate  their  every  promise  to 
her  when  they  gain  power.  I  beg  you  to  re- 
member that  what  is  promised  in  weakness  is 
always  forgotten  in  power.  That  should  never 
be  lost  sight  of. 

Then  ask  yourselves  if  the  first  of  these 
theoretic  institutions, — a  republic — is  more 
just  to  woman,  more  charitable  to  her  in 
any  manner,  more  honest  toward  her  interests, 
than  an  aristocracy;  if  within  its  jurisdiction 
104 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

the  rights,  privileges,  liberties,  reputations  of 
our  sex  are  more  safely  guarded  than  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  monarchy. 

Then  ask  yourself  what  republicanism  has 
done  for  woman  compared  with  what  mon- 
archy has  done, — where  are  its  equal  testimo- 
nials? Where  are  the  names  of  women  hon- 
oured in  its  public  history?  Where  are  its  pub- 
lic monuments  to  such?  Where  are  its  equal 
evidences  of  regard  for  the  distinctions,  powers, 
favours,  and  glories  of  our  sex? 

And  immediately  thereafter  please  remember 
that  "beyond  republicanism  there  is  only  an- 
archy." And  I  beg  you  never  to  forget  what 
you  yourselves  had  rightfully  agreed  upon  be- 
fore I  ever  spoke  to  you — viz. :  that  "a  de- 
mocracy foreshadows  the  future  of  our  sex  in 
socialism  and  anarchism." 

You  have  naturally  believed  that  the  suffer- 
ings women  endure  in  defence  of  socialism  and 
^anarchism  would  cause  the  founders  thereof, 
should  they  prevail,  to  honour  our  sex  accord- 
ingly. But  remember  what  women  suffered  in 
l  America: — They  first  endured  th^ 
105 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

agonies  and  the  perils  of  the  deep  to  get  there, 
then  they  stood  the  fires  of  the  Indians,  their  ar- 
rows, rapes  and  tortures ;  they  bore  all  the  mis- 
eries, anxieties,  and  privations  of  life  in  a  sav- 
age land  upon  a  new  Continent ;  they  submitted 
to  ostracism  by  English  officialism,  and  to  all  the 
hells  of  warfare  with  a  mighty  nation — cold, 
hunger,  and  often  death.  But  the  founders  of 
the  Republic  ignored  and  ostracised  the  very 
women  who  had  suffered  and  struggled  at  their 
sides.  Under  its  very  flag,  which  a  woman  first 
made  and  unfurled  to  the  heavens,  they  did  not 
recognize  her  equal  rights;  in  its  very  govern- 
ment which  woman  had  helped  to  establish,  they 
did  not  grant  her  equal  liberty.  The  discovery 
of  the  very  continent  upon  which  they  estab- 
lished their  theories  was  due  to  a  woman,*  and 
yet  they  made  her  sex  captive  therein.  A  wom- 
an could  be  Queen  and  could  occupy  the  very 
zenith  and  pinnacle  of  all  power  in  the  govern- 
ment to  which  these  women  had  belonged — yet 
they  stripped  power  from  every  member  of  her 
sex  and  made  all  bond-women  to  the  lowest 
"Isabella  of  Spain. 

106 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

races  and  orders  of  manhood.  The  male  found- 
ers of  the  Republic  gained  for  themselves  fame, 
and  these  same  men  left  the  women  founders 
thereof  to  lie  in  unmarked,  unhonoured,  unvis- 
ited  graves.  And  such  is  the  fate  which  awaits 
our  sex  in  socialistic  or  anarchistic  communities, 
for  theorists  generally  know  no  other  definition 
of  gratitude  than  that  given  by  Talleyrand: 
"Gratitude  is  a  lively  sense  of  favour  to  come." 

You  think  because  socialists  and  anarchists 
have  made  such  explicit  promises  to  women, 
that  they  must  keep  them,  should  their  theories 
prevail. 

But  did  not  their  very  precursor,  a  re- 
public, fight  for  seven  long  and  bloody  years  to 
establish  the  principles  "that  all  human  beings 
are  created  equal";  that  "political  power  is 
vested  in  the  entire  people,"  and  for  the  absolute 
independence  of  the  individual?  Yet,  the  in- 
telligent tax-paying  women  who  lived  under  its 
shadow  were  as  sternly  denied  these  things  as 
;were  criminals  and  idiots. 

Did  not  their  very  harbinger,  a  republic, 
pledge  its  sacred  honour  and  call  upon  all  the 
107 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

gods  to  witness  that  it  would  found  a  democ- 
racy? Yet,  when  woman  asked  admission  there- 
in as  a  unit  of  power,  she  was  unblushingly  re- 
fused, and  was  told  that  it  had  established  for 
her  a  government  of  force  founded  upon  mili- 
tary capacity.* 

Did  not  their  very  predecessor,  a  republic, 
declare  to  all  mankind  that  "taxation  without 
representation  is  tyranny";  that  "just  govern- 
ments derive  their  power  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed" ;  that  "it  is  a  government  of  the  peo- 
ple, for  the  people  and  by  the  people."  Was 
not  "equality  for  all,  privileges  for  none"  its 
own  peculiar  creed?  Yet  it  taxed  woman  with- 
out representation;  governed  her  without  her 
consent,  asked  or  implied ;  and  only  regarded  her 
as  of  the  people  for  the  purpose  of  taxing  her, 
of  hanging  her,  and  of  placing  upon  her  every 
disability — never  such  when  its  glories,  rights, 
honours,  or  distinctions  were  to  be  allotted. 

*She  was  constantly  told  that  she  could  not  vote  be- 
cause she  could  not  fight.  This  requisite  was  not  de- 
manded of  men.  And  the  Republic  failed  to  appreciate 
that  she  crossed  through  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of 
Death  for  it  every  time  she  gave  a  son  to  the  State. 

108 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

Did  not  their  very  forerunner,  a  republic,  in 
the  sight  of  the  whole  world,  emblazon  over  its 
portals  "Equality  for  all  who  enter  here?"  Yet 
it  placed  its  brand  of  political  infamy  upon 
woman,  slammed  its  gates  of  liberty  upon 
her,  and  forced  her  to  wander  an  eternal  out- 
cast. 

Did  not  their  very  inciter,  a  republic,  an- 
nounce to  the  people  of  the  entire  earth  that 
"All  human  beings  are  created  equal?"  Yet  it 
refused  woman  equal  admission  within  its  con- 
stitution,— justice  within  its  scope  and  power. 

Did  not  their  very  instigator,  a  republic, 
avow  to  all  the  hosts  on  high  that  individual 
representation  and  equality  for  all,  would  be 
its  basic  principles  ?  Yet  it  reduced  our  sex  to  a 
political  degradation  unparalleled  either  in  Pa- 
gan or  Christian  history,  and  to  a  lower  public 
rank  and  civic  position  than  that  of  woman  in 
any  other  form  of  Occidental  government. 
(  Voices :  "What  a  shame !"  ) 

Socialism  and  anarchism  also  promise  woman 
great  things,  but  should  either  prevail  it  too 
would  speedily  say  "I  find  it  inexpedient  to  car- 
109 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

ry  out  my  pledges."*  And  woman  would  again 
be  sacrificed  upon  the  altar  of  an  impossible 
theory. 

If  you  fail  to  realize  that  the  fate  of  your 
'republican  sisters  awaits  you  in  socialistic  or 
anarchistic  societies,  you  know  nothing  of  the 
nature  of  the  masses  of  men;  nothing  of  their 
want  of  esteem  for  women  as  a  class ;  nothing  of 
their  lack  of  real  friendship  for  women  as  a 
sex;  nothing  of  the  difference  between  their 
promises  before  they  gain  power  and  their  ac- 
tions afterward. 

Place  not  your  faith  in  this  trinity — its 
promises  are  as  easily  broken  as  a  piece  of  thread, 
and  are  not  wrorth  the  paper  they  are  written 
on.  (A  voice:  "I  would  not  now  give  a  penny 
for  a  library  full  of  such  promises!"  Ap- 
plause. ) 

*This  is  ever  said  to  the  American  women  who  ask 
the  Republic  to  live  up  to  its  teachings. 

Several  years  ago  a  couple  of  American  States  sub- 
mitted the  question  as  to  whether  or  not  the  women  of 
these  States  should  vote.  Not  a  Socialist  could  be  found 
who  had  voted  in  favor  of  it;  and  when  asked  why 
they  had  not  voted  to  give  women  the  vote  declared  that 
they  did  not  consider  it  expedient  to  do  so. 

110 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

Pray  ask  yourselves  how  could  woman  en- 
force the  pledges  of  socialism  and  anarchism 
more  than  she  has  been  able  to  enforce  the 
promises  of  democracy.  (A  voice:  "She  could 
not  do  it!")  No,  she  could  not.  And  believe 
me,  if  there  had  been  no  aristocracy  in  existence 
for  woman  in  the  Republic  to  refer  to  and  hold 
up  as  a  model*  (which  she  has  constantly  done 
"throughout  its  entire  history),  nothing  would 
have  prevented  her  speedy  enforcement  therein 
back  to  primeval  conditions. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  if  any  one  of  these 
three  "isms"  controlled  the  world  entirely,  that 
woman  would  enter  upon  a  night  without  star 
or  dawn;  that  her  future  would  lie  in  darkness, 
dumb  and  joyless  forever;  that  her  fate  would 
soon  be  arbitrarily  fixed  by  powers  superior  to 
all  logic,  to  all  justice.  (Cries  of  "Bravo! 
Bravo!") 

I  think  I  have  shown  you  that  republicanism 
is  the  stone  at  the  sepulchre  of  liberty,  and  it 
is  only  logical  for  us  to  conclude  that  either 

*She  has  always  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  a 
woman  can  be  the  head  of  an  aristocracy. 
Ill 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

socialism  or  anarchism  would  prove  a  grave  for 
womankind  from  which  there  could  be  no  resur- 
rection. (  Applause. ) 

I  again  implore  you  to  re-read  the  "Ameri- 
can Declaration  of  Independence,"  and  com- 
pare its  promises  to  woman  with  anything  ever 
promised  her  by  either  socialists  or  anarchists. 
When  you  have  finished  you  will  declare  that 
nothing  ever  written  held  forth  such  hope — that 
it  is  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  carrying  all 
pledges  of  freedom  and  development — that  it  is 
the  chart  and  compass  of  all  human  rights  and 
opportunities.  And  when  you  have  had  those 
reflections  please  remember  at  once  and  forever 
that  it  forged  new  fetters  for  your  sex — and 
that  this  is  a  warning  as  unmistakable  as  that 
the  twilight  announces  the  approaching  of 
night.  (Cheers.) 

And  I  think,  taking  all  things  into  considera- 
tion, it  is  only  rational  in  us  to  conclude  that, 
should  any  one  of  these  three  theories  of  society 
generally  prevail,  nothing  would  await  our  sex 
except  humiliation  and  ostracism;  and  that 
future  womanhood  would  have  b"t  one  aspira- 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

tion,  the  aspiration  for  insensibility, — Nirvana. 
("Hear!  Hear!") 

I,  a  daughter  of  democracy,  declare  to  you 
that  these  three  "isms"  are  the  enemies  of  wom- 
an's influence,  power  and  hope;  that  they  are 
the  assassins  of  her  rights,  the  destroyers  of  her 
opportunities,  and  the  foes  of  her  happiness. 
(A  voice:  "You  are  right !  You  are  right !") 

If  you  ladies  are  still  determined  to  become 
the  benefactors  of  women,  I  know  no  better  way 
than  for  you  to  go  forth  and  publicly  teach 
them — first,  that  what  is  promised  in  weakness 
is  always  forgotten  in  power;  second,  that  na- 
tions whose  shibboleths  are  liberty,  equality, 
fraternity,  more  ruthlessly  stamp  out  these  prin- 
ciples for  their  sex  than  others;  and  third,  that 
if  they  cease  to  succor  republicanism,  socialism, 
anarchism,  the  species  will  soon  perish  and  will 
be  unable  therefore  to  bring  misfortune  upon 
their  female  descendants  down  through  the  cen- 
turies to  come. 


113 


REASONS,     FACTS     AND 
FIGURES 


REASONS,    FACTS    AND    FIGURES 

WHEN  I  resumed  my  seat  there  were 
cries  of  "Don't  stop!"     "Do  go  on!" 
When  quiet  was  restored  I  was   in- 
troduced to  all  the  members  of  my  audience,  and 
was  invited  to  stay  for  tea. 

It  is  to  me  gratifying  to  report  that  within 
two  months  after  I  made  this  address,  my  friend 
had  married,  and  the  other  ladies  had  long  since 
returned  to  their  homes,  declaring  they  would 
thereafter  be  loyal  subjects  to  their  respective 
sovereigns.  I  talked  with  them  at  times  during 
several  days.  They  told  me  they  had  been  clan- 
destinely listening  to  speeches  and  reading  books 
upon  theories  of  society,  until  they  were  so  fired! 
thereby,  and  had  became  so  imbued  with  such 
teachings,  that  they  were  willing  to  endure 
all  the  risks  and  privations  incident  to  their  cir- 
culation ;  and  I  caught  them  only  in  time  to  pre- 
vent their  joining  a  secret  alliance  bent  upon 
destroying  aristocracies. 

Since  the  assassination  of  President  McKJp-» 
117 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

ley  by  an  anarchist,  these  ladies  have  all,  without 
a  single  exception,  again  urged  me  so  persist- 
ently to  publish  the  speech  I  made  to  them,  that 
I  do  so  now  in  hopes  of  saving  other  women 
who  are  endorsing  tenets  which  are  so  perilous 
to  their  sex. 

By  far  the  greater  part  of  the  speech  was 
extemporaneous,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the 
"chief  instigator,"  the  very  ringleader  (the 
most  prominent  of  that  little  gathering  of  wom- 
en) no  verbatim  report  of  it  would  have  been 
preserved — for  she,  being  very  suspicious  of  my 
motives  in  volunteering  to  address  them,  had 
a  stenographic  report  made  thereof,  and  it  is 
this  report  which  I  publish  (just  as  it  was  taken 
down,  with  the  comments  and  criticisms  thereon. ) 
When  I  made  this  speech,  as  I  have  before  ex- 
plained, I  was  in  a  strange  land,  thousands  of 
miles  from  home,  and  had  to  rely  entirely  upon 
memory  for  quotations,  several  of  which  I  have 
not  placed  in  quotation  marks,  nor  ascribed  to 
their  authors  (having  forgotten  in  some  cases 
who  the  authors  were)  and  in  several  cases  mak- 
ing free  quotations,  which  of  necessity  are  not 
118 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

verbatim,  although  their  meaning  is  not  changed 
in  the  least.  I  had  no  assistance  in  gathering 
certain  statistics  and  other  data,  except  from 
that  most  invaluable  little  compendium  of  knowl- 
edge "The  New  York  World  Almanac,"  which 
I  always  carry  with  me.  With  the  exception  of 
a  few  things  which  I  have  since  inserted,  I  pub- 
lish this  speech  practically  in  the  impromptu 
and  necessarily  imperfect  style  in  which  it  was 
spoken,  fearing  that  if  I  polished,  altered  or 
changed  it  materially,  it  might  lose  the  very 
something  which  was  so  convincing  to  that  little 
gathering  of  ladies.  At  the  same  time  I  realize 
how  much  better  it  sounded  than  it  reads,  and 
that  the  most  forcible  part  of  every  speech  h 
lost  to  the  readers  thereof. 

I  should  like  to  save  the  women  of  Germany 
Who  are  deluded  by  the  impractical  promises  of 
Socialism;  of  Russia,  who  are  imperilled  by  the 
illusive  promises  of  Nihilism  or  Anarchy;  of 
Spain,  Italy  and  Ireland,  who  are  ensnared  by 
the  promises  of  Republicanism;  and  of  South 
Africa,  who  resist  the  superior  fate  that  awaits 
them  as  subjects  of  an  Empire, 

119 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

As  "by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them"  I 
urge  the  woman  who  believes  in  Anarchy  to 
go  to  South  America  before  trying  to  make  con- 
verts to  her  beliefs.  There  she  will  see  Anarchy 
as  a  daily  experiment  and  in  actual  practice.  If 
in  three  months  she  is  not  willing  to  live  in  any 
monarchy,  and  if  she  does  not  denounce  the  Mon- 
roe Doctrine  for  nurturing  these  vipers,  I  am  the 
most  mistaken  person  on  earth.  She  will  there 
find  woman's  position  the  lowest  amongst  any 
civilized  people  of  the  entire  earth. 

And,  as  "by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them," 
I  urge  the  woman  who  believes  in  either  democ- 
racy or  socialism  to  visit  the  Republic  of  the 
United  States  of  North  America,  popularly 
called  the  "American  Republic"  (the  country  I 
live  in)  before  trying  to  make  converts  to  her 
beliefs.  Let  her  first  study  its  history  and  go 
back  prior  to  its  foundation.  She  will 
find  that  practically  all  the  conditions  of  de- 
mocracy, and  socialism  were  inherent  in  its  in- 
stitutions. She  will  learn  that  the  Republic 
bade  fair  to  found  an  ideal  society,  and  that  no 
such  opportunity  will  ever  be  given  humanity 
120 


REPUBLICS  w.  WOMAN 

again  to  establish  an  Utopia;  that  the  Repub- 
lic began  upon  a  virgin  soil,  upon  a  new  conti- 
nent ;  that  it  was  unhampered  by  traditions ;  that 
there  was  no  accumulated  wealth;  that  the  land 
was  practically  free  to  all;  that  there  was  abso- 
lute political,  legal,  commercial,  educational,  and 
business  equality  for  all  men  therein;  and  that 
its  constitution  was  the  most  grandiloquent  in- 
strument ever  written  expressive  of  fraternity, 
equality,  liberty,  and  justice.  She  will  learn 
the  founders  of  the  Republic  believed  that  wis- 
dom would  sit  in  the  Legislatures,  justice  in  the 
Courts,  and  that  all  men  would  be  controlled  by 
liberty  and  love,  by  charity  and  justice;  that 
they  believed  as  every  man  would  have  the  right 
to  govern  himself,  as  every  man  would  be 
equal  before  the  law,  pauperism,  crime,  want, 
would  disappear,  and  no  man  or  class  of  men 
could  ever  arise  therein  to  subjugate  the  masses. 
She  will  learn  that  the  founders  genuinely  be- 
lieved that  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
"would  lead  to  serene  heights  where  dwell  jus- 
tice and  happiness,  and  where  all  that  is  fine  in 
the  soul  of  man  would  speedily  grow  and  unfold 
1*1! 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

thereunder  into  Divine  loveliness."  She  would 
read  a  summary  of  the  characters  or  character- 
istics of  the  people  who  settled  America,  and  who 
were  the  real  basis  and  origin  of  the  Institutions. 
Julian  Hawthorn  writes:  "The  pilgrims  came 
to  America  in  obedience  to  a  spiritual  impulse, 
fend  against  all  consideration  of  a  material  sort. 
They  faced  one  another,  man  to  man,  and  none 
desired  any  advantage  over  the  rest.  They  had 
the  instinct  of  order,  but  no  craving  for  domin- 
ion. Whether  religion,  politics  or  industry  were 
uppermost  in  their  thoughts,  their  interests  and 
aims  were  common.  The  soul  was  strong  and 
mighty  in  those  men,  and  to  such  a  community 
the  principle  of  each  for  all  and  all  for  each  was 
a  matter  of  course.  They  governed  themselves, 
that  is,  they  obeyed  individually  and  collectively 
the  dictates  of  justice,  reason,  and  decency;  and 
they  chose  administrators  to  carry  out  jobs 
given  them  in  the  common  behoof.  America  was 
a  socialistic  community  or  an  inevitable  democ- 
racy." 

Yet  she  who  investigates  will  find  that  this 
government  (existing  in  a  land  thinly  popu- 
182 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

lated  and  of  inexhaustible  natural  wealth)  which 
a  brief  century  ago  was  planned  with  all  human 
prescience  to  be  the  home  of  the  Free,  where 
Liberty  was  to  be  supreme,  where  Justice  was 
to  be  the  only  monarch,  where  Character  was  to 
be  the  only  nobility,  is  to-day  not  only  the  most 
despotic  and  corrupt  government  in  Christen- 
dom, but  the  one  run  in  the  interest  of  the  few- 
est number  of  the  people;  that  62  per  cent,  of 
its  wealth  is  owned  by  1  per  cent,  of  its  popu- 
lation; that  (in  this  nation  of  80,000,000  peo- 
ple) less  than  100  men  control  51  per  cent,  of  its 
wealth  (the  combined  pirates  of  history  were 
not  equal  to  one  of  these)  ;  that  the  masses  have 
placed  over  themselves  as  absolute  and  perpetual 
rulers  (so  long  as  the  Republic  endures)  a 
handful  of  the  most  unscrupulous,  arrogant, 
grasping,  heartless  brigands  the  world  has  ever 
known;  that  the  masses  have  gained  nothing  in 
liberty,  wealth,  or  independence,  through  a  uni- 
versal ballot ;  and  that  the  advantages  which  they 
seem  to  have  gained  therefrom  resulted  entirely 
from  the  sparse  population,  salubrious  climate, 
and  inexhaustible  natural  resources  of  the  coun- 


liEPUBLICS  w.  WOMAN 

try;  that  injustices,  inequalities,  corruptions  ex- 
ist therein  which  would  not  be  tolerated  a  day 
by  an  aristocracy ;  that  the  penal  code  is  its  only 
standard  of  poh'tical  morality ;  that  99  per  cent, 
of  its  politicians  are  leeches,  barnacles,  vam- 
pires, and  that  the  personnel  of  its  public  men 
is  far  the  lowest  in  Christendom;  that,  with 
exceptions  so  rare  they  but  prove  the  rule,  cul- 
tured and  "honourable  men  are  practically  ex- 
cluded from  any  share  in  politics;  that  the 
Legislatures,  both  National  and  State,  are  com- 
binations of  intrigue,  corruption,  despotism, 
prejudice,  rapine  and  rascality;  that  no  Chris- 
tian Ruler  can  so  truthfully  be  called  "Impera- 
tor"  as  its  President  ;*  that  its  Government  is  as 
ruthless  in  conquest  and  dominion  as  Rome  in 
the  days  of  her  greatest  aggressiveness;  that 
this  nation,  which  was  to  be  the  world's  exemplar 
of  peace  and  mercy,  is  spending  $400,000,000 
annually  upon  war  and  its  accoutrements  and 
less  than  $200,000,000  upon  education;  that 
the  personal  liberty  which  everybody  enjoys  in 
an  aristocracy,  nobody  possesses  there,  for  there 
*Impersonal. 

124s 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

is  throughout  the  land  a  total  disregard  of  indi- 
vidual rights;  that  the  industrial  problems, 
which  are  to  benefit  the  masses,  are  not  being 
solved  there,  but  are  being  left  to  the  aristocra- 
cies of  Europe  to  solve;  that  its  treatment  of 
woman  has  been  an  unbroken  infamy  and  treach- 
ery; that  it  has  created  no  ideals  to  inspire  or 
lift  humanity — no  imperishable  or  immortal 
gems  of  poetry,  prose,  painting,  sculpture, 
music,  architecture,  philosophy,  or  oratory ;  and 
that  its  only  sanctuary  is  "The  Temple  of 
Mammon,"  its  only  idol  the  "Golden  Calf,"  for 
under  the  dogma  of  Democracy  the  spiritual  of 
necessity  dies,  and  the  material  only  endures. 

She  would  plainly  see  that  it  has  taken  demo- 
cratic principles  only  a  brief  century  to  bring 
about  these  direful  results  for  society,  and  that 
another  century  thereof  would  reduce  the 
masses  to  a  helplessness  and  hopelessness  that 
they  have  not  before  known. 

She  would  implore  all  her  sex  to  believe  that 

only  similar  results  could  possibly  befal  society 

by  the  acceptance  of  either  of  the  two  theories 

(socialism  and  anarchism),  and  would  beseech 

125 


REPUBLICS  vs.  WOMAN 

men  to  know  that  woman  could  expect  nothing 
from  any  one  of  these  three  "isms"  except  a 
slow  but  inevitable  suicide  of  her  sex. 


126 


APPENDIX 


POLITICAL   STATUS   OF   WOMEN 

THE  RUSSIAN  was  the  first  govern- 
merit  to  grant  any  political  recognition 
and  rights  to  large  numbers  of  women. 

SWEDEN  in  1735  gave  women  tax-payers 
votes. 

FRANCE  (a  monarchy),  about  the  year 
1831,  gave  widows  votes  by  proxy.  This  right 
the  Republic  took  away  from  them. 

BRUNSWICK  (Germany)  in  1850  gave 
widows  and  unmarried  women  who  owned  prop- 
erty votes  by  proxy. 

PRUSSIA  and  WESTPHALIA  in  1856 
gave  all  women  with  property  qualifications 
votes  by  proxy. 

GALICIA  in  1866  gave  women  tax-payers 
votes  by  proxy — the  married  women  through 
their  husbands,  the  unmarried  through  elected 
proxy. 

SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN  (Germany)  in 
1867  gave  all  women  of  required  property  quali- 
fications votes  by  proxy. 


APPENDIX 

Since  then  the  right  to  vote  has  been  ex- 
tended in  Norway,  Sweden,  Russia,  England, 
Prussia  and  Austria;  while  municipal  suffrage 
has  been  granted  to  women  in  England,  Scot- 
land, Wales,  Ireland,  Norway  and  Canada;  and 
complete  suffrage  to  all  women  (numbering 
1,500,000)  in  the  Isle  of  Man,  New  Zealand, 
New  South  Wales,  South  Australia,  West  Aus- 
tralia, and  Tasmania. 

The  States  of  Wyoming,  Colorado,  Utah,  and 
Idaho  grant  women  full  suffrage — Wyoming, 
in  1890,  being  the  first  State  in  any  re- 
public in  the  world  to  give  women  complete 
suffrage. 

In  republics  the  right  of  women  to  vote  lags 
far  behind  the  right  of  women  to  vote  in  other 
civilized  governments ;  indeed  it  is  to  be  doubted 
if  any  republic  will  ever  grant  women  generally 
the  right  to  vote.  For  example  in  a  white  popu- 
lation of  60,000,000  in  the  British  Empire, 
5,000,000  women  have  more  liberal  suffrage 
than  have  500,000  women  in  the  American  Re- 
public of  80,000,000  people.  And  in  a  popula- 
tion of  60,000,000  people  in  the  British  Empire, 
130 


APPENDIX 

l,5UU,uOO  woinen  have  fuller  suffrage  and  great- 
er political  power  than  have  150,000  women  in 
the  American  Republic  of  80,000,000  people. 

Within  a  given  population  of  160,000,000 
people  in  European  aristocracies,  10,000,000 
women  possess  more  liberal  municipal  suffrage 
than  do  1,000,000  women  in  a  combined  popu- 
lation of  republics  of  160,000,000  people. 

The  woman  who  seeks  equality  between  the 
sexes  makes  the  mistake  of  ber  life  in  seeking 
such  in  a  republic. 

Before  the  American  government  was  es- 
tablished, women  begged  that  this  new  gov- 
ernment should  fulfil  the  promise  of  the 
Revolution,  viz. :  No  taxation  without  individual 
representation.  Mrs.  Adams  (the  wife  of  a 
future  President),  wrote  to  her  husband  to  the 
Continental  Congress,  imploring  him  to  see  to 
it  that  women  were  recognized  by  the  Republic 
as  units  of  power,  and  that  the  men  be  not  given 
arbitrary  power  over  women  (which  their  having 
exclusive  use  of  the  ballot  meant).  And  from 
Virginia  and  Maryland  went  protests  from  wom- 
en against  women  being  excluded  from  political 
131 


APPENDIX 

power.  The  most  famous  of  these  women  were : 
A  sister  of  the  famous  General,  R.  H.  Lee,  and 
Miss  Brent,  of  Maryland.  Other  educated 
Southern  women,  headed  by  Mrs.  Brevard,  of 
North  Carolina,  asked  that  the  new  government 
should  give  women  political  power.  Miss  Liv- 
ingston, a  distant  cousin  of  Philip  Livingston 
(one  of  the  signers  of  the  American  Declaration 
of  Independence),  a  cultured  Northern  wom- 
an, wrote  to  the  Philip  Livingston  mentioned 
that  it  would  be  a  pity  for  the  new  government 
to  succeed  if  it  did  not  give  women  political 
recognition,  as  the  women  would,  otherwise,  oc- 
cupy a  far  lower  position  therein  than  they  had 
previously  held  as  subjects  of  England.  She 
prophesied  that  political  recognition  not  being 
granted  to  women  they  would,  as  time  went  on, 
constantly  grow  more  helpless  in  the  hands  of 
their  masters  and  rulers.  She  said  that  no  wom- 
an on  the  American  continent  with  an  ounce  of 
brains  would  have  lifted  her  voice  against  Eng- 
lish supremacy  if  she  had  for  a  moment  thought 
that  the  new  government  would  ostracise  and 
ignore  her  sex. 


APPENDIX 

THE   DECLARATION 
OF  AMERICAN   INDEPENDENCE 

Although  prior  to  1776,  when  the  American 
colonies  were  subject  to  England,  the  Americans 
were  denied  the  right  to  send  representatives  to 
the  English  Parliament,  the  Colonies  had  local 
and  municipal  self-government.  The  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  starts  out  by  asserting 
that  all  human  beings  are  born  equal  and  with 
inalienable  rights  to  liberty;  and  that,  to  serve 
these  rights  governments  are  instituted  among 
men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed;  that  whenever  a  gov- 
ernment becomes  destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is 
the  right  of  the  people  to  abolish  it.  At  the 
close  the  States  declare  they  will  carry 
these  pledges  into  effect  and  for  this  end 
they  aver  "we  mutually  pledge  our  sacred 
honour." 

The  government  which  was  founded  upon  this 
document  considers  this  same  Declaration  of 
Independence,  when  used  by  women  an  "in- 
133 


APPENDIX 

cendiary  document." .  The  Republic  offered,  AS 
its  only  excuse  for  coming  into  being,  that  it 
meant  to  establish  "equality  for  all," — yet  it 
is  ever  ready  to  brand  as  a  traitress  every  wom- 
an therein  who  objects  to  being  placed  by  it 
under  the  absolute  and  irresponsible  despotism 
of  millions  of  rulers.  The  Republic*  was  founded 
upon  the  principle  that  people  have  a  right  to 
overthrow  a  government  based  upon  any  other 
standard  than  liberty  and  equality  for  all  its 
members — yet  it  is  ever  ready  to  brand  as  a 
traitress  every  woman  who  objects  to  being 
placed  by  it  upon  the  identical  public  plane  she 
would  occupy  as  a  subject  of  Turkey. 

QUOTATIONS  AND  SUMMARIES 

(The  following  are  quotations  and  summaries 
from  the  writings  and  speeches  of  noted  Ameri- 
cans and  others.  A  few  of  them  being  quoted 
from  memory,  may  deviate  slightly  verbally 
from  the  original,  but  in  no  case  is  the  sense 
altered  or  modified.) 


APPENDIX 
OPINIONS    OF    WOMEN 

The  American  Republic  dishonours  woman, 
and  it  should  expect  no  woman  to  honour  it. — 
Mrs.  Z.  Wallace  (Mother  of  General  Lew  Wal- 
lace). 

To  the  everlasting  shame  of  the  American  Re- 
public, a  delegation  of  ladies  from  the  aristoc- 
racies of  England,  Russia,  Sweden  and  Norway, 
appeared  before  its  Congress,  February,  1902, 
to  implore  it  to  pass  a  National  enactment  which 
would  force  the  States  of  the  Union  to  cease 
classing  women  politically  with  their  criminals 
and  lunatics,  with  their  mental  and  moral  out- 
casts. Mrs.  Carrie  Chapman  Catt,  in  introduc- 
ing the  speakers,  said :  "Although  I  have  always 
lived  in  this  Republic,  having  been  a  resident  of 
four  different  States,  a  tax-payer,  and  able  to 
pass  every  qualification,  I  have  never  been  per- 
mitted to  vote  for  the  smallest  thing,  and  yet  I 
have  the  privilege  of  introducing  to  the  Ameri- 
can Congress  a  Russian  woman  who  has  voted 
in  her  country  ever  since  she  was  twenty-one 
years  of  age." 

135 


APPENDIX 

Madam  Freedland  said:  "Mr.  Chairman,  and 
Gentlemen  of  the  Congress — In  a  country  like 
Russia,  with  an  absolute  government,  there  is 
but  little  suffrage  for  either  men  or  women,  but 
what  there  is  is  equally  shared  by  men  and  wom- 
en. We  do  not  (men  or  women)  vote  for  our 
Czars,  but  about  all  the  municipal  officers  are 
elected  by  the  votes  of  real-estate  owners,  regard- 
less of  sex,  and  this  is  a  far  greater  justice  than 
is  shown  to  American  women.  Russia  has  the 
most  liberal  laws  in  Europe  regarding  the  civil 
capacity  of  her  women.  For  centuries  marriage 
has  not  changed  the  rights  of  a  wife  to  her  prop- 
erty; the  husband  has  no  legal  right  over  the 
property  of  the  wife,  and  the  wife  is  in  no  re- 
spect under  the  husband's  guardianship." 

Mrs.  Ewald,  of  Sweden,  said :  "I  stand  before 
the  legislative  power  of  America,  representing  a 
country  where  women  have  voted  since  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  Swedish  women  voted  before 
any  man  upon  American  soil  ever  voted.  Our 
men  granted  votes  to  women  without  women  ever 
requesting  the  same.  The  tax-payers  of  Sweden, 
irrespective  of  sex,  can  vote.  Women  have  voted 
136 


APPENDIX 

since  1736  lor  every  office  for  which  men  vote 
on  the  same  terms,  except  in  the  second  chamber 
of  the  Riksdage." 

Mrs.  Drewson,  of  Norway,  said:  "All  women 
in  Norway  who  pay  taxes  on  an  income  of  $100 
a  year  have  municipal  suffrage  upon  exact  terms 
as  the  men  of  that  land." 

Mrs.  Fenwick-Miller,  of  England,  said: 
"Women  have  the  municipal  suffrage  in  Eng- 
land upon  the  same  qualifications  as  men." 

Mrs.  Goldstein,  of  Australia,  said:  "Women 
have  full  suffrage  in  New  Zealand,  West  and 
South  Australia,  and  the  Isle  of  Man,  in  the 
British  Empire,  and  municipal  suffrage  in  Can- 
ada, England,  Ireland  and  Scotland." 

These  ladies  then  pleaded  with  the  Congres- 
sional Committee  (which  had  been  appointed 
not  to  listen  to  any  of  their  speeches)  to  grant 
the  rights  to  American  women  upon  the  like 
terms  and  conditions  upon  which  Congress  had 
granted  such  rights  to  the  negro  men  of  the 
land. 

"English  women  have  a  much  greater  oppor- 
tunity than  their  American  sisters  to  engage  in 
137 


APPENDIX 

public  and  political  affairs.  The  English  wom- 
an occupies  nearly  all  her  working  hours  with 
meetings  and  functions  of  various  kinds,  many 
of  them  of  a  semi-public  nature.  In  politics  the 
influence  of  English  women  is  direct,  whereas  it 
is  so  limited  among  American  women  as  to  be 
inappreciable." — Mrs.  Cornwallis-West. 

NEED    FOR    REFORM 

I  call  the  attention  of  the  Legislature  to  the 
desirability  of  gradually  extending  the  sphere 
in  which  the  suffrage  can  be  exercised  by  women. 
— Message  of  President  Roosevelt,  when  Gover- 
nor of  New  York. 

Man,  who  tramples  on  the  rights  of  others, 
is  the  greatest  stickler  for  his  own.  Liberty 
being  feminine,  modest  man  naturally  imagines 
that,  like  everything  else  feminine,  Liberty  be- 
longs entirely  and  only  to  him. — L.  de  V. 
Matthewman. 

Women  in  republics  have  no  genuine  public 
influence.  Men  flatter  them  into  believing  they 
have  in  order  to  keep  them  good,  just  as  they 
138 


APPENDIX 

tell  children  about  Kris  Kringle  to  keep  them 
good. — A.  Ranking. 

Woman  has  ever  been  the  slave  of  slaves.  I 
demand  that  she  shall  be  free  and  placed  upon 
an  equality  with  man.  Why  should  not  men  be 
decent  enough  in  the  management  of  politics  of 
the  country  for  women  to  mix  with  them?  Let 
us  give  woman  the  opportunity  to  care  for  her- 
self since  men  are  not  decent  enough  to  seek  to 
care  for  her. — R.  G.  Ingersoll. 

Woman  stands  in  the  position  of  the  negro  slave 
prior  to  his  emancipation, — she  has  no  voice 
in  her  own  government,  nor  in  fixing  the  stand- 
ard by  which  she  is  governed  and  controlled. 
She  is  a  dependent  morally,  mentally,  financial- 
ly and  physically.  It  is  the  height  of  ignorance 
to  say  that  women  control  society  and  make  the 
moral  standards  that  govern  it.  They  do  noth- 
ing of  the  kind.  Financial  dependents  and  po- 
litical nonentities  create  no  standards.  They 
receive  them  ready  made.  The  merest  modicum 
of  reason  will  supply  the  proof  of  this.  No 
subject  class  ever  yet  made  public  opinion  either 
for  itself  or  for  others.  It  always  must  reflect 
139 


APPENDIX 

the  sentiments  and  opinions  of  its  rulers.  Who 
enacts  the  double  standard  of  morals  upon  which 
all  social  sentiments  rest?  No  sane  or  reason- 
able person  claims  it  is  woman-made.  Woman 
is  the  mirror  which  reflects  man-made  pictures^ 
but  she  cannot  be  accused  of  being  the  creator 
of  the  original  of  the  reflection.  ...  A 
sovereign  race  cannot  be  born  of  subject  moth- 
ers. With  an  equal  social,  moral,  financial  and 
political  status  for  men  and  women,  surely  the 
relations  of  the  sexes  will  be  sweet,  noble,  holy 
and  pure;  and  there  will  be  no  ideal  marriages 
until  legally,  morally  and  financially  there  sit 
at  the  hearthstone  two  equals. — H.  H.  Gardner. 
THE  THREE  "!SMS" 

Anarchy  is  a  symptom  of  disease,  which  dis- 
ease is  democracy. — G.  Langtoft. 

There  is  nothing  beyond  Republicanism  but 
Anarchism. — Rev.  Josiah  Strong. 

The  tendency  of  Socialism  is  more  and  more 
to  ally  itself  with  democracy;  in  fact  it  claims 
to  be  the  economic  complement  of  democracy. — 
Encyclopedia  Britannica. 

The  natural  outcome  of  republican  govern- 
140 


APPENDIX 

merit  is  discontent,  unrest,  instability, — finally 
revolution. — Ex-Secretary  of  the  Navy  Her- 
bert. 

A  democratic  system  of  government  is  at  the 
mercy  of  ignorance,  caprice,  passion,  and  above 
all,  envy,  which,  Longfellow  says,  is  the  chief 
vice  of  republics. — G.  Langtoft. 

Socialism  as  a  system  has  this  radical  diffi- 
culty— It  promises  great  results  without  an  ade- 
quate cause.  Why  should  people  give  all  they 
possess  into  the  hands  of  the  community?  If 
all  men  were  angels  or  came  again  under  some 
strictly  absolute  government,  such  as  that  of 
the  Incas,  or  again  under  the  influence  of  some 
wild  revolution,  such  doctrines  might  overcome 
whole  communities,  as  a  cyclone  does;  but,  un- 
less human  nature  be  changed,  they  would,  like 
the  cyclone,  lose  their  power  soon,  and  old 
habits  would  return. — Archbishop  Corrigan. 
CONDITIONS  IN  AMERICA 

In  America  the  "sovereign  people"  is  fast  be- 
coming a  puppet  which  moves  and  speaks  as 
wire-pullers  determine;  and  while  the  forms  of 
•freedom  are  retained,  the  substance  is  practical- 
141 


APPENDIX 

ly  lost.  America  proves  that  "paper  constitu- 
tions" do  not  work  as  they  are  intended  to  work. 
— Herbert  Spencer. 

We  boast  of  American  freedom,  yet,  in  what- 
ever walk  of  life  we  are,  every  man,  woman  and 
child  of  us  pays  tribute  to  the  few  enormously 
rich  men  here  who  control  every  avenue  of  trade. 
In  the  moment  of  the  Nation's  awakening  to 
a  full  realization  of  the  condition  of  American 
labour,  the  world's  history  will  not  furnish  a 
scene  of  equal  awfulness.  Liberties  in  America 
have  one  by  one  been  filched  from  the  masses, 
and  we  are  in  reality  no  longer  a  free  and  in- 
dependent people. — Francis  A.  Adams. 

If  some  new  element  is  not  introduced  into 
America,  the  life  of  the  Republic  will  soon  ter- 
minate.— Herbert  Spencer. 

The  immigration  officers  at  the  American 
ports  continually  hear  the  statements  from 
working  men  that  immigrants  from  England, 
Ireland,  and  all  the  northern  countries  of  Eu- 
rope, had  better  remain  at  home,  as  the  work- 
man there  is  comparatively  better  off  than  in 
America. — The  American  Federationalist. 


APPENDIX 

The  misgovernment  of  New  York  City  is  a 
fact  known  to  the  whole  world.  In  Germany, 
England,  Holland,  Sweden,  Belgium,  and  other 
European  countries,  city  government  is  improv- 
ing constantly  and  rapidly.  Councils,  boards 
and  officers  are  constantly  of  higher  character 
and  ability,  and  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  the 
people  are  more  and  more  the  object  of  the 
solicitude  and  of  the  efforts  of  the  officials.  In 
America,  on  the  contrary,  our  cities  copy  New 
York,  and  great  cities  like  Chicago,  Philadel- 
phia, St.  Louis,  Minneapolis  and  others,  im- 
prove on  her  lessons  (or  in  other  words  are  even 
more  corrupt  than  New  York). — Frank  Moss. 

At  present  we  have  government  by  the  or- 
ganization, for  the  organization,  at  the  expense 
of  the  people.  Instead  of  forces  working  for 
the  liberty,  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the 
people,  we  have  corruption  in  root  and  branch 
of  our  municipal  service — a  monstrous  con- 
spiracy of  loot,  embracing  every  department  of 
public  life. — Hon.  John  D.  Crimmins. 

There  have  been  bad  governments  of  many 
sorts  and  names,  but  the  form  of  bad  govern- 
143 


APPENDIX 

ment  under  which  New  York  is  ruled  to-day  is 
the  worst  of  all — it  is  a  government  of  toughs. 
—New  York  Sun,  1901. 

Our  poor  go  to  their  tenements,  where 
evil  lurks  in  the  darkness  at  every  step, 
where  innocence  is  murdered  in  babyhood,  where 
mothers  bemoan  the  birth  of  a  daughter  as  a 
last  misfortune,  where  virtue  is  sold  into  slavery, 
where  the  word  home  is  a  bitter  mockery. — A 
working  man  at  Prof.  Felix  Adler's  meeting  in 
New  York. 

The  mismanagement  of  so  many  of  our  cities 
is  the  chief  cause  for  speculation  as  to  the 
permanency  of  the  Republic.  If  Americans 
cannot  govern  themselves  properly,  how  can 
they  expect  to  govern  others  with  justice?  If 
they  cannot  see  that  even  a  street  assessment  is 
properly  levied,  or  a  police  ordinance  justly  en- 
forced, what  right  have  they  to  say  anything 
about  the  destiny  of  the  Filipinos  or  the  future 
of  the  American  sisterhood  of  nations? — Ken- 
tucky Post. 

The  fact  is  American  liberty  is  found  no- 
where outside  of  books. — J.  K.  Henry. 
144 


APPENDIX 

Nowhere  in  the  world  is  the  line  so  rudely 
drawn  between  the  rich  and  the  poor,  between 
the  master  and  the  menial,  between  the  laborers 
and  the  idlers,  as  in  America.  Money  is  tyrant 
in  this  Republic  as  nowhere  else,  and  men  will 
do  for  money  there  what  they  will  do  for  money 
nowhere  else  on  earth. — "America  and  the 
Americans." 

The  liquor  business  is  the  greatest  single  fac- 
tor in  American  politics. — Prof.  S.  Rabb. 

In  America  men  enter  politics  without  know- 
ledge, education  or  character;  they  live  sump- 
tuously by  it,  and  they  emerge  from  it  rich. 
They  adroitly  organize  a  mart  and  votes  are 
sold  as  shares  to  the  highest  bidder.  The  politi- 
cal morals  of  the  nation  are  so  blunt  that  it 
can  be  truthfully  said  they  have  no  existence; 
and  both  commercially  and  socially  young  men 
are  educated  to  esteem  money  and  money  only. 
They  hourly  see  men  of  doubtful  antecedents, 
vicious  lives  and  brutal  propensities,  sought 
after  and  courted,  not  only  politically,  but  in 
business,  in  the  highest  social  circles,  and  in  the 
home.  They  soon  learn  that  nothing  is  so  des- 
145 


APPENDIX 

picable  as  poverty,  and  that  the  Penal  Code  is 
the  only  standard  of  morality. — A  Diplomat. 

It  is  true  that  the  problems  of  American  de- 
mocracy in  the  Nineteenth  Century  have  not 
been  such  as  to  have  left  the  student  in  an  op- 
timistic mood.  The  spirit  of  the  age  with  its 
Niagara-like  current,  ever  drawing  the  best 
strength  and  thought  of  the  country  into  the 
whirlpool  of  business  competition;  the  atmos- 
phere of  politics,  with  miasmatic  influence 
poisoning  the  conscience,  relaxing  the  moral 
fibre  of  so  many  men  in  public  life,  and  making 
itself  felt  in  the  lowering  of  the  vital  tone  of 
the  whole  nation — these  conditions  are  not  con- 
ducive to  the  development  of  the  highest  type 
of  manhood  among  us. — New  York  Evening 
Post. 

Politics  have  been  so  befouled  in  America  that 
respectable  men  are  with  great  difficulty  found 
willing  to  wade  through  the  mire,  and  only 
rascals  are  supposed  to  want  offices.  As  a  na- 
tion we  have  made  wonderful  material  progress, 
but  in  moral  integrity,  in  all  that  goes  to  make 
a  nation  really  and  permanently  great,  America 
146 


APPENDIX 

has  retrograded. — D.  W.  Miller,  in  the  Cincin- 
nati Commercial-Tribune. 

The  test  of  national  prosperity  is  not  in  the 
multiplication  of  millionaires,  but  in  the  increase 
of  independent  freeholders  who  own  their  homes 
and  call  no  man  master.  Judged  by  this  stand- 
ard we  dare  not  boast  in  America  of  industrial 
progress  or  social  betterment. — Henry  B. 
Blockwell. 

America  is  to-day  under  the  tyranny  of  a 
plutocracy,  the  most  intolerable  tyranny  of 
which  the  mind  can  conceive. — New  York  Jour- 
nal. 

America's  coldness  to  the  moral  issues  in- 
volved in  politics  combined  with  a  world-wide 
reaction  against  democracy,  makes  it  unlikely 
that  any  considerable  portion  of  the  American 
people  will  ever  seriously  bestir  themselves  again 
in  the  negroes'  behalf.  Never  as  to-day  since 
the  close  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  has  there  been 
so  little  belief  in  self-government. — Rev.  Gar- 
rett,  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly. 

Assisting  this  movement  to  imperialism  is  a 
certain  disappointment  with  representative,  not 
147 


APPENDIX 

to  say  republican  institutions.  They  have 
failed  to  answer  the  hopes  of  their  advocates. 
In  America  the  cost  of  government  is  constantly 
rising  and  politics  are  not  growing  in  repute. 
Constituencies  are  becoming  so  enormous,  the 
number  of  elective  offices  so  great,  and  elections 
so  frequent,  that  in  despair  we  show  a  tendency 
to  leave  government  in  the  hands  of  any  one  who 
will  attend  to  it  for  us,  and  the  stronger  the 
hands  the  better. — General  Lloyd  Bryce. 

The  right  of  privacy  does  not  exist  in 
America.  Such  is  the  decision  of  our  Court  of 
Appeals  in  1902.— New  York  World. 

Our  platforms  are  constructed  for  the  pur- 
pose of  vote  catching  and  become  apocryphal 
after  the  vote  is  counted. — Memphis  Commer- 
cial Appeal. 

New  York  is  the  most  commercial  city  of  a 
commercial  age.  Its  very  name  is  flat.  What 
has  it  ever  been  noted  for  but  its  markets? 
Athens  and  Rome  and  Jerusalem  carry  with 
their  names  recollections  of  notable  deeds,  but 
the  name  of  New  York  is  insipid.  What  use  is 
there  for  God  in  a  land  of  idols? — Felix  Adler. 
148 


APPENDIX 

How  long  will  it  be  before  our  public  men 
become  but  a  race  of  Medicean  princes 
without  the  learning  or  the  arts  of  Florence, 
and  the  Presidential  chair  itself  a  simple  com- 
modity to  be  knocked  down  to  the  highest  bid- 
der?— Henry  Watterson. 

PROFESSION   VERSUS   PRACTICE 

The  pre-eminent  significance  of  the  Spanish- 
American  War  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  has  un- 
covered the  essential  humbug  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  and  has  demonstrated  to 
the  world  the  pretence  and  insincerity  of  Ameri- 
ca's devotion  thereto.  There  should  now  fol- 
low a  cessation  of  vain  and  inconsistent  prating 
over  the  "consent  of  the  governed"  and  other 
such  claptrap  phrases  of  the  demagogues  that 
we  are  accustomed  to  declaim  on  patriotic  oc- 
casions, and  to  incorporate  into  our  political 
platforms  for  the  purpose  of  catching  votes. 
America  is  engaged  in  building  an  empire  and 
is  to-day  more  than  ever  an  imperialistic  nation. 
But  the  American  will  not  admit  that  the  basic 
principle  of  his  empire  is  the  domination  of 
149 


APPENDIX 

force,  ibr  he  has  an  inherent  hostility  to  call- 
ing things  by  their  right  and  truthful  names. 
— Professor  Dickson,  in  the  Arena. 

Atrocities  in  the  Philippines — Americans  who 
shudder  at  reading  of  the  cruelties  of  the  Duke 
of  Alva  in  the  sixteenth  century,  tolerate  the 
perpetration  of  equal  atrocities  under  the 
American  flag  in  this  twentieth  century. — New 
York  Herald. 

A  country  like  the  United  States  of  America,j 
founded  on  a  struggle  of  our  Revolutionary 
fathers  for  liberty  and  independence,  should 
never  be  at  war  except  for  the  defence  of  its 
honour  and  integrity. — Cincinnati  Enquirer. 

I  want  no  prisoners.  I  wish  you  to  kill  and 
burn.  The  more  you  kill  and  burn,  the  better 
you  will  please  me. — Order  of  General  Smith  to 
his  soldiers  before  they  set  out  on  an  expedition. 

[The  General  was  sent  by  the  American  gov- 
ernment to  the  Philippine  Islands  to  instil 
Christianity  into  the  natives.] 

They  say  Cuba  is  free  and  that  we  liberated 
her.  Is  Cuba  free?  I  say  no!  She  is  simply 
,  and  the  question  is  whether  she  is  an- 
150 


APPENDIX 

nexed  for  freedom  and  independence  or  for 
plunder  and  oppression.  America  has  been  pro- 
lific in  euphonious  words  while  it  grasped  at 
material  advantages.  The  fact  that  Cuba  is 
calling  out  to  us  to-night  in  a  voice  of  suppli- 
cation, instead  of  making  a  demand,  proves 
she  is  not  free — that  she  is  merely  one  of  our 
territories. — Hon.  Wm.  J.  Bryan. 

I  am  opposed  to  the  course  of  the  American] 
government  because  it  is  steeped  in  cant  and 
hypocrisy.  There  is  something  fine  in  the  un- 
similated  strength  of  a  wild  beast,  but  when  a 
nation  steals  the  soil  from  under  your  feet  and 
enslaves  you  to  its  own  uses,  and  in  the  mean- 
time prates  of  Christianity  and  civilization  and 
benevolent  intentions,  it  turns  the  stomach  of 
an  honest  man.  We  have  lied  to  Cuba  point 
blank  and  misled  the  Filipinos.  Yet  we  go  on} 
bragging  of  our  philanthropic  work  as  if  false- 
hood were  bred  in  our  bones.  I  am  opposed  to 
the  American  policy,  it  distracts  our  attention 
and  our  material  resources  from  the  problems 
which  beset  us  at  home.  We  should  reform  our- 
selves before  we  undertake  to  reform  others,  or 
151 


APPENDIX 

undertake  to  preach  a  crusade.  How  can  we, 
with  our  slums,  our  lynchings,  our  race  prob- 
lems, our  labor  questions — how  can  we  decently 
assume  to  teach  mankind?  Americans  are  the 
only  civilized  people  who  practise  burning  at 
the  stake,  and  we  wish  to  soften  the  manners  of 
the  isles  of  the  sea ! — Ernest  Crosby. 

Among  the  consequences  are  America's  dis- 
regard for  the  rights  of  free  speech  and  press; 
censorship  and  suppression  of  news;  the  growth 
of  military  spirit  with  its  glorification  of  brute 
force,  and  branding  as  traitors  those  who  pro- 
test against  such. — Bolton  Hall. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  has  become 
an  "incendiary  document"  in  the  Philippine 
Islands,  and  an  exponent  of  exploded  eigh- 
teenth century  ethics  in  America. — Thomas  El- 
mer Will. 

If  to  anyone  such  a  forecast  seems  visionary, 
let  him  ask  himself  whether,  a  few  years  ago, 
he  could  have  dreamed  that  the  principles  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  would  be  disre- 
garded and  derided  in  America. — Professor 
Goldwin  Smith. 

152 


APPENDIX 

There  would  be  no  cause  for  surprise  if  Rou- 
mania  should  petition  the  Powers  of  Europe  to 
use  their  influence  to  break  up  the  habit  of  burn- 
ing negroes  alive  in  the  United  States. — Kansas 
City  Star. 

The  history  of  Hayti,  since  it  began  to  work 
out  its  own  destiny,  is  that  of  a  steady  reversion 
to  heathen  savagery.  ...  If  a  foreign 
Power  should  suggest  that  a  refusal  on  our  part 
to  clean  up  Hayti  or  to  let  any  one  else  attempt 
that  Augean  labor  would  be  making  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  a  plea  to  justify  the  attitude  of  the 
dog  in  the  manger,  we  really  do  not  see  what 
good  answer  we  could  return  to  such  an  expos- 
tulation.— New  York  Times. 

UNPLEASANT  CONTRASTS, 

The  individual  in  England  has  greater  *ree- 
dom  of  speech  and  action,  and  more  privileges 
than  the  individual  has  in  America.  In  Ameri- 
can cities  there  is  an  extent  of  petty  officialism 
and  dictation  that  the  English  people  would  not 
endure  a  day. — The  Philistine. 
153 


APPENDIX 

In  America,  the  so-called  "land  of  the  free," 
our  people  (the  Jews)  find  a  worse  tyranny  than 
that  from  which  they  came,  for  to  our  former 
oppressors,  our  women  at  least,  were  sacred. — 
Reported  by  Jacob  A.  Riis. 

"Mr.  Maddison,  secretary  of  the  Ironfound- 
ers'  Society  of  England,  said  the  American  iron- 
founders  may  turn  out  more  product  than  the 
British  workers,  but  this  is  at  the  cost  of  shorter 
lives,  the  average  life  of  the  British  ironfound- 
er  being  fifty-four  years,  as  against  forty-four 
years  for  the  American  ironf ounder." 

"One  difference  between  the  Government  of 
Great  Britain  and  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  is  this: 

"The  Government  of  Great  Britain  is  really 
run  in  the  interest  of  the  public,  financially  and 
otherwise. 

"The  Government  of  the  United  States,  as 
everybody  knows,  is  run  largely  in  the  interest 
of  big  financial  concerns,  trusts  and  corpora- 
tions."— New  York  Journal. 

New  York,  with  half  the  population  of  Lon- 
don, has  56  per  cent,  more  murders  in  an  aver- 
154 


APPENDIX 

age  year.— New  York  World  Table  of  Statis- 
tics. 

When  Mrs.  Stanton  called  her  first  Woman's 
Convention  in  the  Republic,  the  men  had  mis- 
represented (not  represented)  its  women  for 
nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century. — The  fol- 
lowing shows  woman's  exact  status  therein. 

"The  American  Government  has  never  per- 
mitted any  woman  to  exercise  her  inalienable 
right  to  the  elective  franchise. 

"It  has  compelled  her  to  submit  to  laws  in 
the  formation  of  which  she  had  no  voice. 

"It  has  withheld  from  her  rights  which  it 
gave  to  the  most  ignorant  and  degraded  men — 
both  natives  and  foreigners. 

"Having  deprived  her  of  this  first  right  of 
a  citizen,  the  elective  franchise,  thereby  leav- 
ing her  without  representation  in  the  halls 
of  legislation,  it  has  oppressed  her  on  all 
sides. 

"It  has  made  her,  if  married,  in  the  eyes  of 
the  law,  civilly  dead. 

"It  has  taken  from  her  all  right  in  property, 
even  to  the  wages  she  earns. 
155 


APPENDIX 

"It  has  made  her  morally  an  irresponsible 
being,  as  she  can  commit  many  crimes  with  im- 
punity, provided  they  be  done  in  the  presence 
of  her  husband.  In  the  covenant  of  marriage, 
she  is  compelled  to  promise  obediance  to  her 
husband,  he  becoming,  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, her  master — the  law  giving  him  power 
to  deprive  her  of  her  liberty  and  to  administer 
chastisement. 

"It  has  so  framed  the  laws  of  divorce,  as  to 
what  shall  be  the  proper  causes,  and  to  whom 
the  guardianship  of  the  children  shall  be  giv- 
en, as  to  be  wholly  regardless  of  the  happiness 
of  woman — the  law,  in  all  cases,  going  upon  a 
false  supposition  of  the  supremacy  of  man, 
and  giving  all  power  into  his  hands. 

"After  depriving  her  of  all  rights  as  a  mar- 
ried woman,  if  single  and  the  owner  of  prop- 
erty, it  has  taxed  her  to  support  a  government 
which  recognizes  her  only  when  her  property 
can  be  made  profitable  to  it. 

"It  has   monopolized  all  the  profitable  em- 
ployments, and  from  those  she  is  permitted  to 
follow,  she  receives  but  a  scanty  remuneration, 
156 


APPENDIX 

"It  has  closed  against  her  all  the  avenues  to 
wealth  and  distinction.  In  theology,  medicine, 
and  law  she  is  not  known. 

"It  has  denied  her  the  facilities  for  obtaining 
«  thorough  education — all  colleges  being  closed 
against  her. 

"It  has  created  a  false  public  sentiment  by 
sanctioning  a  different  code  of  morals  for  men 
and  women,  by  which  moral  delinquencies  which 
exclude  women  from  Society  are  not  only  tol- 
erated but  deemed  of  little  account  in  men. 

"It  has  usurped  the  prerogative  of  Jehovah 
Himself,  claiming  it  as  its  right  to  assign  for 
her  a  sphere  of  action,  when  that  belongs  to 
Him. 

"It  has  endeavored,  in  every  way  it  could  do 
to  destroy  her  confidence  in  her  own  powers,  to 
lessen  her  self-respect  and  to  make  her  willing 
to  lead  a  dependent  and  abject  life." 

TRUSTS    AND    TARIFFS 

Such  a  condition  as  exists  in  America  to-day, 
which  allows  a  confederation  of  corporations  to 
get  a  monopolv  on  any  article  of  necessity,  is 
157 


APPENDIX' 

not  tolerated  in  any  other  country. — McDer- 
mott  (Member  of  Congress). 

The  population  of  New  York  State  (which  is 
the  richest  in  America)  in  1898  was  estimated 
at  7,000,000,  so  that  on  the  face  of  the  returns 
it  is  proven  that  one-third  of  the  population  of 
New  York  State  are  relative  paupers  and  sub- 
sist on  charity  in  some  form  or  other. — Russell, 
Statistician. 

No  fact  is  more  clear  than  that  by  means  of 
America's  protective  tariff,  the  citizens  of  our 
Republic  are  being  shamefully  plundered  in 
order  that  a  few  men  may  become  all-powerful. 
The  fact  that  a  trust  can  afford  to  sell  its  steel 
$6  per  ton  less  in  Europe  than  it  demands  of 
our  people  is  conclusive  evidence  that  the  tariff 
is  no  longer  levied  to  protect  labour,  but  to 
foster  monopoly. — The  Arena. 

Through  the  American  protective  tariff  all 
foreign  competition  is  either  greatly  restricted 
or  entirely  prevented;  but  when  in  place  of 
home  competition  we  have  an  industrial  mo- 
nopoly which  permits  those  having  control  of 
it  to  dictate  whatever  prices  they  please,  then 
158 


APPENDIX 

by  the  action  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  of  America  an  entirely  uncalled  for  and 
monstrous  privilege  is  accorded  to  these  combi- 
nations and  they  are  given  the  right  to  plunder 
the  American  people  at  their  will. — Bostoij 
Herald. 

The  people's  alleged  representatives  are  noth- 
ing more  than  the  humble  errand  boys  of  the 
trusts. — New  York  Journal. 

INSTANCES  OF  EQUALITY 

Plutocracy  on  the  one  side;  proletariat  on 
the  other ;  never  in  the  world's  history  could  this 
have  arisen  on  such  a  scale  as  is  now  apparent 
in  the  American  Republic. — H.  M.  Hyndman, 
in  Wilshire's  Magazine. 

On  every  side  (in  America)  there  is  an  almost 
wanton  display  of  luxury  and  splendour.  Yet, 
poor,  miserable  beings  that  we  are,  we  are  not 
able  to  establish  among  ourselves  a  pure  and 
decent  civic  government. — Ex-Mayor  A.  S. 
Hewitt  of  New  York. 

The  Japanese  woman  is  always  treated  with 
a  respect,  tenderness,  and  consideration,  beyond 
the  conception  of  the  common  people  of  Ameri- 
i!59 


APPENDIX 

ca.  History  shows  that  of  123  Japanese  sover- 
eigns, nine  have  been  women.  From  ancient 
times  the  Custodian  of  the  divine  Regalia  has 
always  been  a  virgin  priestess.  The  chairs  of 
public  and  private  schools  are  almost  always 
occupied  by  women  to  the  exclusion  of  our  men. 
— Chujiro  Kochi  of  Japan. 

Besjuk  (Besjukoofschtschina),  Russia,  is  a 
state  made  up  of  seven  villages  which  are  run 
by  women,  as  each  is  presided  over  by  a  mayor- 
ess; the  whole  being  under  the  superintendence 
of  a  woman  who  acts  as  president.  There  are 
women  magistrates,  women  politicians,  women 
preachers, — in  fact,  every  capacity  in  the  state 
is  filled  by  women. — Russian  News  Item. 

PROPHECIES 

America  will  prove  to  be  the  shortest-lived  of 
the  great  nations  in  the  annals  of  history;  a 
Sphinx,  a  Parthenon,  one  ode  of  Sappho,  one 
line  of  Homer,  one  stanza  of  Shakespeare,  one 
verse  of  Goethe,  one  bar  of  Beethoven,  one 
stroke  of  Phidias,  one  touch  of  Angelo — would 
save  it  from  eternal  oblivion;  but  it  will  leave 
160 


APPENDIX 

behind  only  a  collection  of  coins,  for  money  is 
its  only  God.  Money,  money  only  is  the  God 
worshipped  in  America,  not  with  secret  rites,  but 
brazenly  adored  in  Congress,  in  the  home,  in 
the  market,  and  in  the  halls  of  justice. — An 
American  ex-Diplomat. 

I  can  see  frightened  American  capitalists 
sending  their  money  to  Canada,  to  England,  to 
Germany,  to  Russia,  for  safe-keeping;  I  can 
see  the  holders  of  American  securities  in  Europe 
literally  dumping  them  back  upon  the  American 
market;  I  can  see  these  80,000,000  Americans 
in  such  a  turbulent  death-struggle  as  will  awe 
the  world,  even  the  world  which  still  hears  the 
re-echoing  shrieks  and  groans  of  the  French 
Revolution.  Thank  God,  my  friends  of  Europe, 
you  and  I  will  not  be  there  to  witness  it. — "The 
Americans." 

At  no  very  distant  day  the  enormous  indus- 
trial combinations  in  America  will  result  not 
only  in  financial  ruin  to  those  interested  but  to 
the  entire  country  as  well. — Russell  Sage,  per- 
haps the  greatest  individual  capitalist  in  the 
country  (his  wealth  being  estimated  at  $100,- 
161 


000,000),  in  a  statement  to  the  New  York 
Journal,  regarding  gigantic  combinations  and 
the  consolidation  of  great  industries. 

The  few  American  magnates,  ten  years  hence, 
will  regulate  the  wage  scales  of  skilled  and  un- 
skilled labor  in  every  department  of  life ;  will  set 
the  price  upon  all  raw  material,  thus  bridling 
the  producer;  will  put  their  own  price  upon 
manufactured  products;  will  absolutely  control 
the  banks;  will  dictate  all  legislation  in  their 
own  interests,  thereby  hampering  the  courts; 
will  curb  the  press  so  as  to  silence  free  speech 
and  eliminate  the  possibility  of  complaint  by 
ownership  of  interest;  will  extend  their  ramifi- 
cations to  State  and  National  politics,  and  suc- 
cessful candidates  will  be  chosen  by  them  long 
before  conventions  are  held.  This  is  an  unmis- 
takable outline  of  a  true  American  picture  which 
he  who  runs  may  read. — David  Dudley  Lynch. 

WOMEN  AND  THE  BALLOT 

I  know  no  argument  for  refusing  the  ballot 
to  women  that  is  not  equally  applicable  to  men. 
In  America  we  are  far  behind  England  and 
162 


APPENDIX 

other  countries  of  Europe  in  this  as  well  as 
other  just  and  beneficial  legislation. — Rev. 
Father  Thos.  Sully. 

American  men  ask:  "Are  not  our  legislators 
fathers,  husbands,  brothers,  sons — and  there- 
fore are  not  the  interests  of  women  perfectly 
safe  in  their  hands?"  This  argument  would 
have  more  force,  were  it  not  so  obvious  that 
every  legal  oppression  under  which  women  ever 
suffered  was  sanctioned  and  enforced  by  fathers, 
husbands,  brothers  and  sons. — Lucy  Stone. 

There  is  one  cause  for  dispensing  with  the 
labour  of  women  by  our  government,  and  substi- 
tuting that  of  men  for  it,  which  has  not  been 
given  by  the  authors  of  the  scheme — it  is  that 
women  have  no  votes,  and  men  have.  This  is 
the  only  reason. — Philadelphia  Ledger.  (When 
thousands  of  women  were  turned  out  of  em- 
ployment by  the  American  government.) 

Not  a  majority  of  any  class,  even  of  men, 
ever  demanded  the  franchise.  It  will  be  granted 
to  women  when  the  majority  of  men  can  be 
brought  to  see  that  it  is  as  much  a  woman's 
right  as  a  man's,  and  when  political  exigencies 
163 


APPENDIX 

will  allow  them  to  vote  according  to  their  con- 
victions.— Ida  Husted  Harper,  in  the  New  York 
Sun. 

If  women  are  fit  to  rule  in  monarchies  it  is 
difficult  to  say  they  are  not  qualified  to  vote  in 
republics. — Hon.  H.  B.  Anthony,  U.  S.  Senator 
from  Rhode  Island. 

The  Minneapolis  Times  was  among  the  large 
number  that  declared :  "We  take  occasion  again 
to  say  that  we  favor  woman  suffrage  whenever 
women  want  it — not  before."  But  how  many 
women  must  first  want  it?  Must  the  minority 
be  forever  denied  representation  because  the 
majority  do  not  desire  it?  Is  that  logical?  Is 
it  fair?  Is  it  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of 
a  Republic? 

Another  expression  which  occurred  over  and 
over  again  was:  "Women  do  not  vote  where 
they  have  the  ballot."  The  papers  repeat  this 
like  a  parrot.  It  is  absolutely  false,  and  the 
figures  to  prove  this  assertion  have  been  given 
again  and  again.  There  can  be  only  one  true 
test,  and  that  is  to  compare  the  vote  of  women 
with  that  of  men,  where  both  have  exactly  the 
164 


APPENDIX 

same  electoral  rights.  The  only  four  States 
where  this  can  be  done  show  uniformly  a  larger 
proportional  vote  of  women  than  of  men;  and 
the  statistics  of  Australia  and  New  Zealand  give 
the  same  result. — Ida  Husted  Harper. 

There  are  fewer  social  problems  to  be  solved 
in  the  equal  suffrage  States  than  in  any  other 
part  of  America,  and  the  States  which  deny 
woman  the  ballot  can  all  take  lessons  in  political 
purity  from  those  four  Rocky  Mountain  States 
where  representative  government  is  given  a 
truer  interpretation  than  elsewhere  on  this  con- 
tinent.— Avery  C.  Moore. 

In  Wyoming,  where  the  longest  trial  has  been 
given  full  suffrage  for  women  in  America,  the 
Census  and  Statistical  Bureaus  show  that  there 
are,  in  proportion  to  the  population,  fewer  di- 
vorces, fewer  insane,  fewer  drunkards,  a  larger 
birthrate,  fewer  outcast  women,  and  less  illiter- 
acy than  in  any  other  State  in  the  Republic. 
Women  have  used  the  ballot  with  an  intelligence 
and  self -helpfulness  far  in  excess  of  their  use 
by  men  anywhere  in  America. — Judge  Davis. 


165 


APPENDIX 

WORKING    WOMEN 

We  have  in  America  to-day  an  army  of 
6,000,000  white  women  who  are  forced  to  slave 
for  a  bare  living.  These  women  are  deserving 
of  the  protection  of  our  Constitution,  but  they 
do  not  vote  and  cannot  get  it;  and  our  men  of 
America  do  not  secure  it  to  them.  When  people 
speak  of  the  advanced  position  of  American 
women,  they  speak  of  the  few,  of  the  golf -play- 
ing minority;  but  I  speak  of  the  6,000,000 
who  toil  even  harder  than  men,  of  those  who 
are  dependent  upon  themselves,  of  those  who 
are  driven  to  prostitution  or  suicide. — Francis 
A.  Adams. 

Director  of  Charities  Harrison  R.  Cooley  has 
been  looking  into  the  condition  of  working 
women.  In  the  report  which  he  has  prepared 
from  personal  investigation  and  observation  he 
avers  that  he  is  grievously  surprised  at  the  re- 
sult. 

The  Director  says:  "To  those  who  are  per- 
mitted to  see  it,  the  tragedy  of  our  modern  in- 
dustrial and  social  system  is  appalling.  The 
166 


APPENDIX 

cruel  and  unjust  conditions  really  cause  a  ruin 
and  degradation  of  life  a  hundredfold  more 
than  the  things  reformers  are  most  prone  to  at- 
tack."—New  York  Times. 

It  is  proposed  by  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  that  Congress  shall  forbid  the  employ- 
ment of  women  in  any  government  place.  The 
avowed  purpose  of  this  is  to  "inaugurate  a  pre- 
cedent for  the  removal  of  women  from  the 
everyday  walks  of  life,  the  relegation  of  her 
to  the  home."  But  what  if  a  woman  has  no 
home?  What  if  she  has  no  husband,  or  one  who 
fails  or  is  too  lazy  to  provide  for  her?  Is  she 
to  starve  or  worse?  What  conceivable  reason  is 
there  then  why  she  should  not  use  her  abilities 
in  providing  for  herself?  The  right  of  every 
human  being  to  make  the  most  and  the 
best  of  his  or  her  capabilities  is  as  indis- 
putable as  the  right  to  breathe. — New  York 
World. 

The  women  and  children  in  the  mill  villages 
support  almost  entirely  the  vast  majority  of 
the  men  in  such  localities  in  the  North  and  South 
Carolinas  and  in  Georgia.  In  their  native 


APPENDIX 

haunts  in  the  hills  and  mountains  the  women  do 
practically  all  the  work. — From  an  article  copied 
by  the  Literary  Digest. 

MAN   AND   WOMAN 

Since  human  beings  first  appeared  upon  this 
earth  of  ours,  the  endless  strife  of  man  and 
woman  has  been  carried  on — the  man  against  the 
woman,  the  stronger  against  the  weaker,  the 
pursuer  against  the  pursued.  Through  the 
thousands  of  centuries,  woman  has  been  and 
still  is  the  prey  of  man. — R.  Pyke. 

All  men  respond  to  a  freemasonry  of  sex,  and 
against  woman  they  stand  solidly  together;  in- 
dividually they  may  be  fond  of  some  particular 
woman  or  even  of  some  women,  but  their  loyalty 
towards  their  own  sex  as  a  sex,  ever  and  always 
above  the  female  sex,  is  a  fact  not  to  be  denied. 
For  a  woman  to  expect  man  to  liberate  her  is  as 
senseless  and  idiotic  as  it  would  be  for  mice 
to  expect  cats  to  voluntarily  cease  to  prey  upon 
them.  Man  is  woman's  natural  enemy,  her 
implacable  foe,  and  she  will  ever  be  his  prey. 
Woman  as  a  sex  can  no  more  trust  man  as  a 
168 


APPENDIX 

sex,  than  mice  as  a  species  can  trust  cats  as  a 
species.  (There  are  numerous  cases  where  cats 
are  trained  to  live  with  certain  mice  without 
preying  on  them,  but  these  individual  friend- 
ships do  not  make  those  cats  the  friends  of  other 
mice.)  Thousands  of  Frenchmen  marry  Ger- 
man women,  yet  they  hate  all  Germans;  thou- 
sands of  Germans  marry  Frenchwomen,  yet  they 
hate  all  the  French  people.  Affection  for  cer- 
tain members  of  a  sex,  race,  nation  or  species 
does  not  in  the  least  indicate  friendship  for  the 
others  of  that  kind;  nor  does  affection  for  an 
individual  indicate  either  esteem  or  friendship 
for  even  that  same  individual,  else  slave-masters 
would  never  have  sold  into  cruel  bondage  to 
other  slave-masters  the  very  women  for  whom 
they  had  entertained  the  deepest  affection — 
women  who  had  repeatedly  borne  them  children. 
Each  husband  avows  that  he  entertains  the 
greatest  loyalty  for  one  woman  as  a  proof 
of  his  loyalty  to  womankind.  Alas,  if  the 
truth  were  told,  not  even  five  of  them  in  any  hun- 
dred would  dare  make  an  oath  in  support  of  their 
assertions.  If  woman  ever  has  a  free  body  and 
169 


APPENDIX 

free  mind,  chainless  hands  and  fetterless  brains 
it  will  be  through  the  efforts  of  her  own  sex — 
through  the  freemasonry  of  woman.  Man, 
when  he  became  more  refined,  removed  his  iron 
chains  from  woman's  wrists,  and  replaced  them 
with  chains  of  gold;  preferring  a  more  beauti- 
ful slave;  when  he  became  more  refined  he  also 
removed  his  bird  from  an  iron  cage  and  placed 
it  in  a  delicate  cage  of  gilt — but  he  destroyed 
its  liberty,  its  right,  to  soar  as  effectually  in 
one  cage  as  in  the  other,  just  as  woman  in  his 
gold  chains  is  as  effectually  his  slave  as  she  was 
in  his  chains  of  iron. — Karla  V.  Janseen. 

Women  receive  far  more  control  and  consider- 
ation than  they  ought  to  have ;  aristocracies  pay 
far  too  much  attention  to  women.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve women  should  be  given  any  political  rights, 
nor  that  they  should  receive  other  than  the 
merest  rudiments  of  education. — Count  Tolstoi, 
the  leading  anarchist  of  the  world. 

No  reasonable  mind  will  question  that  if  a 

certain  degree  of  progress  is  made  when  only; 

one-half  of  a  people  are  permitted  to  develop 

themselves  mentally  and  physically  up  to  their 

170 


APPENDIX 

highest  possible  culture,  just  twice  that  progress 
may  be  made  when  the  other  half  is  allowed 
equal  advantages.  It  is  a  popular  delusion  that 
American  women  have  many,  if  not  the  same 
privileges  as  men.  The  conservative  man  ex- 
claims, "We  worship  them  as  angels";  and 
thoughtless  women  of  affluence,  and  less  fa- 
vored women  in  humbler  positions,  bidding  for 
masculine  applause,  respond,  "We  have  all  the 
rights  we  want."  Gallantry  is  mistaken  for 
justice,  and  soft  soap  for  equity.  Even  these 
exist  only  on  the  surface.  They  compose  the 
cream  that  rises  to  the  top  of  polite  society,  and 
this  is  fed  only  to  the  handsome,  rich,  and  other- 
wise fortunate;  all  below  is  skim  milk,  and  this 
is  dealt  out  sparingly  and  grudgingly  to  toiling 
women,  unhappy  wives,  and  to  all,  indeed,  who 
most  need  sympathy  and  help.  But  let  no  man 
who  suddenly  awakens  to  this  injustice,  suppose 
in  his  arrogance  that  he  can  give  woman  her 
rights.  The  very  fact  that  men  talk  of  allow- 
ing women  this  or  that  liberty  is  evidence  in 
itself  that  authority  has  been  usurped.  As  well 
might  a  pickpocket  talk  of  giving  a  porte-mon- 
171 


APPENDIX 

naie  to  somebody  from  whom  he  had  clandes- 
tinely filched  it.  I  tell  you,  reader,  we  men  have 
no  rights  to  give  woman;  she  possesses  natural- 
ly the  same  rights  that  we  do.  If  she  does  not 
enjoy  them,  someone  is  a  robber.  Who  is  the 
thief?  Let  him  moke  restitution  with  the  full 
understanding  that  he  is  entitled  to  neither  re- 
ward nor  thanks.  With  all  her  physical  disa- 
bilities, as  compared  with  man,  woman  can  ac- 
complish more  for  herself  and  her  sex  in  this 
competitive  world  without  his  sympathy  and 
with  her  freedom,  than  she  can  without  her  free- 
dom and  with  his  sympathy  and  support.  But 
whether  she  can  or  not  is  none  of  our  masculine 
business,  nor  have  we  any  right  to  stand  in  the 
path  of  her  progress  to  discuss  the  possible  ef- 
fect upon  society  if  she  be  allowed  to  pass. 
Here  again  might  is  interposed  to  trammel 
right.  There  can  be  no  question  of  expe- 
diency where  one  of  justice  is  involved. 
The  establishment  of  impartial  rules  of 
justice  can  never  overthrow  a  social  system 
that  is  grounded  in  truth,  nor  imperil  the  per- 
f  a  true  republic.  Let  it  be  impressed 


APPENDIX 

upon  the  minds  of  the  rising  generation  that 
man  holds  his  superior  position  wholly  in  conse- 
quence of  his  greater  physical  strength ;  that  the 
same  brute  force  which  made  her  a  salable  com- 
modity in  the  early  history  of  the  world,  makes 
her  the  plaything  and  foot-ball  of  man  to-day; 
and  if  our  children  in  the  light  of  the  twentieth 
century  century  have  any  justice,  any  filial  love, 
or,  both  being  absent,  any  sense  of  shame,  the 
time  draws  nigh  when  the  world-wide  oppres- 
sion of  woman  will  exist  only  as  a  disgraceful 
blot  on  the  pages  of  human  history. — Dr.  Foote. 

We  know  how  small  a  number  of  reigning 
queens  history  presents  in  comparison  with  that 
of  kings,  but  a  far  larger  proportion  of  them 
have  shown  talent  for  rule  than  kings !  It  is  re- 
markable how  many  of  these  queens  have  been 
distinguished  by  merits  the  most  opposite  to 
the  conventional  and  imaginary  character  of 
women, — they  have  been  as  much  remarked  for 
their  firmness  and  rigour,  as  for  their  intelli- 
gence.— John  Stuart  Mill. 

Of  unhappy  marriages,  ninety-nine  out  of  a 
hundred  would  have  been  happy  had  the 
173 


APPENDIX 

band  brought  to  the  contract  as  pure  a  senti- 
ment and  as  high  a  moral  development  as  were 
brought  by  the  woman. — New  York  Journal. 

SOME    IMPRESSIONS 

While  I  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  tre- 
mendous energy  cf  the  Americans,  I  fear  their 
too  rapid  progress  will  experience  a  serious  and 
disastrous  setback  in  the  very  near  future.  They 
do  too  much  business  on  borrowed  capital ;  there 
are  too  many  weak  banks  there ;  and  a  crash  at 
the  first  untoward  event  is  inevitable. — Count 
Matsukala,  Japanese  Minister  of  Finance. 

America  has  outgrown  the  barbarism  that 
argument  can  be  answered  by  personal  abuse 
less  than  any  civilized  country. — Li  Hung 
Chang. 

The  greatest  of  Japanese  philosophers  says: 
"Humanity  lives  under  many  kinds  of  despot- 
ism, but  the  greatest  of  all  is  'the  will  of  the 
majority.'  " 

For  my  part,  when  I  feel  the  hand  of  power 
lie  heavy  on  my  brow,  I  care  but  little  who 
oppresses  me ;  and  I  am  not  more  disposed  to  pass 
174 


APPENDIX 

beneath  the  yoke  because  it  is  held  out  to  me 
by  the  arms  of  a  million  men. — De  Tocqueville. 

It  is  a  great  advantage  when  tyranny  has  one 
head  and  one  neck.  What  axe  can  relieve  us 
from  the  tyranny  of  the  majority? — Lord 
Wemyss. 

Man  has  all  the  vices  but  not  all  the  virtues  of 
the  beast. — R.  G.  Ingersoll. 

The  most  important  step  Europe  can  take  in 
the  20th  century  will  be  the  partition  of  the 
American  Republics  by  the  powers  of  Europe. 
Americans  cannot  govern;  all  Americans  con- 
fess it  when  they  go  to  Europe,  and  all  Euro- 
peans notice  it  when  they  go  to  the  New  World. 
— G.  B.  Shaw. 

For  out  of  the  strife  which  woman 

Is  passing  through  to-day 
A  man  that  is  more  than  human 

Will  yet  be  born,  I  say. 
A  man  in  whose  pure  spirit 

No  dross  of  self  will  lurk, 
A  man  who  is  strong  to  cope  with  wrong, 

A  man  who  is  proud  to  work. 

I  know  he  is  coming,  coming 
To  help,  to  guide,  to  save, 
Though  I  hear  no  martial  drumming, 

175 


APPENDIX 

And  see  no  flags  that  wave. 
But  the  great  soul  travail  of  woman 

And  the  bold  free  thought  unfurled 
Are  heralds  to  say  he  is  on  the  way, 

The  coming  man  of  the  world. 

— Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox. 

To  begin  with,  in  medias  res,  are  men  fair 
to  women?  The  laws,  which  are  made  by  men, 
the  usages — everything  is  calculated  to  cause 
men  to  reduce  to  a  minimum  the  qualities,  the 
intelligence  and  the  influence  of  women. 

For  instance,  let  a  woman  make  a  reputation 
in  art  or  literature,  and  men  begin  to  smile  and 
shrug  their  shoulders;  they  dispute  her  talent. 

I  maintain,  without  much  fear  for  contradic- 
tion, that  a  woman,  in  order  to  succeed  in  a 
profession,  must  have  ten  times  more  talent  than 
a  man,  inasmuch  as  a  man  will  have  friends  and 
comrades  to  help  him,  and  a  woman  only  difficul- 
ties put  in  her  way  by  man  to  surmount. 

Man  receives  encouragements  from  all  sides. 

Why  should  not  women  get  all  this.  Why, 
simply  because  man,  being  both  "verdict"  and 
"execution,"  has  kept  everything  for  himself. 

Women,  perhaps  unfortunately,  cannot  all 
176 


APPENDIX 

be  intended  to  be  mothers  or  spend  their  lives 
mending  socks  and  attending  to  Spring  house- 
cleaning  ;  such  women,  who  have  received  a  high 
education,  may  not  feel  inclined  to  be  shopgirls,! 
lady's  maids  or  cooks;  if  they  feel  that  they 
have  talent  and  can  paint  or  write  successfully, 
every  man  ought  to  give  them  a  helping  hand. — 
Max  O'Rell  in  New  York  American. 

"To-day  exactly  13  men  control  the  indus- 
trial and  commercial  life  of  America,  and  they 
aim  at  world  conquest.  Every  citizen  in  the 
Republic  is  their  subject  and  the  public  is  pow- 
erless against  their  methods.  They,  the  13,  also 
seek  now  to  control  the  entire  world." — New 
York  Herald,  January  25,  1903. 

"To-day  a  dozen  colossal  fortunes  own  every 
line  of  transportation  by  lake  or  sea,  every  gold 
mine  and  every  coal  field,  every  railroad,  and 
every  Legislature  and  Electorate  in  America. 
It  is  the  height  of  stupidity  to  say  they  will  soon 
own  all  if  not  placed  under  control — they  al- 
ready own  all,  as  any  intelligent  European  sees. 
Such  power  is  greater  than  any  separate  State 


APPENDIX 

in  America — it  is  greater  than  any  National 
Government  upon  the  Western  Hemisphere. 
My  heart  quakes  at  the  realization  that  Europe 
wastes  its  time  fortifying  against  such  puny 
enemies  as  socialism  and  anarchism,  and  re- 
mains in  ignorance  that  this  monster  stalks  to- 
wards its  gate  intending  to  devour  it  too!" — 
M.  Freedland. 

Commissioner  Williams  shows  that  immigra- 
tion from  Germany,  Great  Britain  and  the 
Scandinavian  countries  is  to-day  almost  as  in- 
significant as  was  twenty  years  ago  the  immi- 
gration from  Italy  and  Austria. 

Dr.  Alexander  P.  Doyle  says:  "Americans 
live  such  rapid  lives  and  set  such  a  fast  pace 
that  to  keep  their  wornout  nerves  at  concert 
pitch  they  use  strong  alcoholic  drink.  Neu- 
rasthenia is  a  peculiarly  American  disease.  The 
life  in  this  country  conduces  to  exhausted 
nervous  systems,  which  require  a  different  kind 
of  beverage  than  the  light  wines  and  beer  suit- 
able to  the  placid  life  of  the  average  European. 
Here  men  drink  liquids  fifty,  sixty  and  seventy 
per  cent,  alcoholic. 

178 


APPENDIX 

"In  Europe,  when  men  drink,  they  become 
happy,  their  hearts  are  filled  with  joy.  In 
America  intoxication  makes  man  mad.  He 
must  use  an  ax  on  his  wife  or  beat  his  child's 
brains  out.  That  is  because  in  Europe  the 
beers  and  liquors  are  pure.  In  this  country  they 
are  adulterated." 


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